| HR & EMPLOYMENT LAW
Jackie le Poidevin, Editor-in-Chief, HR Adviser |
10 Steps You Need to Take as Test and Trace Goes Live
The launch of the Government’s test and trace system last week looks set to lead to a rise in the number of employees having to self-isolate even if they have no symptoms of COVID-19. Here, we look at how the scheme works and set out 10 steps to take as the scheme gets underway.
The key points about the test and trace service to be aware of are as follows:
- Anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19 can now ask to be tested. While they are waiting for the test result, they and members of their household must self-isolate.
- The person will be encouraged (but not obliged) to alert people with whom they have been in close contact in the previous 48 hours, which may include asking you to speak to close work colleagues.
- At this stage, close contacts do not need to self-isolate. However, they should avoid high-risk individuals and take extra care to self-isolate, practise good hygiene and look out for symptoms.
- If the person who ordered the test has a negative result, they can end their self-isolation and, if applicable, return to work (as can any household members).
- If the person tests positive, they and their household must continue to self-isolate. The tracing team will ask the person to share information about their recent close contacts and tell those people, who may include co-workers, to self-isolate. The isolation period will be 14 days from the point of most recent contact.
- If multiple cases of COVID-19 appear in your workplace, you can seek advice from your local authority. If necessary, the local council or Public Health England will assign you an outbreak control team to help manage the outbreak.
- Once the testing phase is complete, the NHS will launch an app to keep track of who people have been in close contact with.
10 Steps You Should Take
- Make clear to staff that they must tell you if they receive a notification to self-isolate and must comply with the test and trace team’s instructions.
- Don’t ask anyone who has to self-isolate to attend the workplace, whether they are the person who originally showed symptoms, a household member of someone with symptoms or a contact.
- Explain that, where possible, and if an employee feels well enough, you will give them work to do from home while they are self-isolating.
- Explain what pay employees will receive if they can’t work from home. As a minimum, you must pay statutory sick pay (SSP) for every day in isolation. If you’re a small or medium business, you can recoup this cost from the Government.
- The service will provide employees with a notification that they have been told to self-isolate. You should request a copy of this as evidence if you are reclaiming SSP.
- You must give employees the option to use any outstanding holiday as an alternative to SSP so they continue to receive full pay while self-isolating.
- If you offer contractual sick pay, it’s likely you’ll need to pay this during self-isolation, but this will depend on your policy wording, so check what it says.
- If you don’t offer contractual sick pay, consider whether you wish to offer full pay during self-isolation. If they will only get SSP, staff who don’t have symptoms may not disclose advice to self-isolate and keep coming to work, risking an outbreak in your workplace.
- Draw up a contingency plan in case lots of staff have to self-isolate at the same time.
- Keep communicating with any staff in self-isolation and offer support.
| PAYROLL
Sarah Bradford, Editor-in-Chief, Pay & Benefits Adviser |
Discover the Key Changes to Phasing Out the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will come to an end on 31 October 2020, with changes being made to the scheme from 1 July 2020 as support is gradually withdrawn. As the scheme evolves, employers will need to get to grips with what they can claim and what they have to pay – and also face difficult decisions over when they can continue to keep all staff on.
In its current form, employers can furlough employees and, as long as the employee is furloughed for a minimum period of at least 3 weeks, the employer can claim a grant of 80% of the employee’s wages to a maximum of £2,500 per month. The grants are liable to tax and National Insurance but the employer can reclaim the associated employer’s National Insurance, and also the minimum employer pension contributions due under auto-enrolment.
Starting with Flexible Furloughing
At present, a grant can only be claimed where an employee does no work for the employer while on furlough. However, to help employers bring employees back into work, businesses will be able to bring furloughed employees back part time from 1 July 2020, while continuing to receive some support from the Government.
Under flexible furloughing, the employer will be responsible for paying the employee’s wages for the hours that the employee works but can claim a grant under the furlough scheme for the balance of the time. Further details on how the calculations will work are expected to be published on 12 June.
The introduction of flexible furloughing will be a relief for many employers who require employees to do some work but who perhaps do not have sufficient work to employ them full-time. Employers will be able to decide the hours and shift patterns that employees work and increase them gradually as the country moves out of lockdown. Employers should plan ahead and advise employees of changes to their working patterns.
Scheme Closing to New Entrants
The furlough scheme will close to new entrants on 30 June 2020. This means that an employee must be furloughed by 10 June 2020 to enable them to complete the minimum 3-week furlough period required for a grant claim by 30 June 2020.
This deadline is important, particularly to employers who are rotating furloughed staff and have staff who have yet to be furloughed. If they plan to furlough them, they need to do so by 10 June to be able to claim under the scheme.
Withdrawal of Financial Support
The Government will continue to pay 80% of an employee’s wages while on furlough up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated employer’s National Insurance contributions and the minimum pension contributions payable by the employer under auto-enrolment throughout June and July.
From 1 August 2020, while the Government will continue to pay 80% of an employee’s wages (subject to the monthly cap of £2,500), the employer will now be responsible for paying the employer’s National Insurance on the grant payment and also the associated employer pension contributions.
From 1 September 2020, furloughed employees will continue to receive 80% of their wages (up to £2,500 a month); however, the Government contribution will reduce to 70%, with employers picking up the tab for the remaining 10%. The employer will be responsible for paying the associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer pension contributions.
The last month for which a claim can be made under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is October 2020. From 1 October 2020, the Government contribution will fall to 60% of the furloughed employee’s wages. However, the employee will continue to receive 80% of their wages up to £2,500 a month while on furlough, with responsibility for paying the remaining 20% resting with the employer. The employer must also meet the costs of the employer’s National Insurance and employer pension contributions.
Difficult Decisions
As support under the scheme is withdrawn, employers will face difficult decisions as to whether they can continue to afford to keep staff on. These are particularly challenging for sectors such as hospitality, which remain unable to open.
| HEALTH & SAFETY
Paul Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Health & Safety Adviser |
How to Risk Assess Your Sanitisers and Cleaning Products
Frequent handwashing with soap and water or sanitiser and keeping touched surfaces clean are key practical safeguards in making your workplace Covid-Secure. However, many sanitisers and cleaning chemicals are themselves hazardous, so what action do you need to take to minimise the risk?
A reader contacted our Ask the Experts Email Helpdesk this week because she was concerned about sanitiser health hazards. Her specific query was about risk assessment and whether the ‘COSHH certificate’ (actually just a supplier’s data sheet) was adequate. With many of us using record quantities of these products, what do we need to do here?
Sanitiser Hazards
Sanitisers typically consist of one or more alcohols plus an ingredient such as glycerine to create a gel. They may also contain other disinfectants, as well as hand care ingredients such as aloe vera.
But, often, they are hazardous: they will cause serious and painful eye irritation if allowed to get in the eye, plus the alcohol content (typically between half and two-thirds of the product) makes the sanitiser flammable. As a result, there is a legal requirement on employers to carry out a risk assessment and put in place suitable safeguards. Having a supplier’s data sheet is good practice but not, in itself, enough to meet these duties.
If you’re just struggling with your Covid-Secure risk assessment (not to mention the many other worries of being a manager at this time), this probably does not come as good news. But, don’t stop reading, because the solution to this problem is actually very simple.
Getting to ‘Safe’ is Not Difficult
Essentially, if your users follow the simple precautions set out on the label, that is pretty much all you need to do to satisfy yourself that the risks will be low. These precautions might vary slightly from product to product (see label for details) but will essentially boil down to keeping it:
- Out of your eyes (we should all be avoiding touching our faces anyway).
- Away from ignition sources (so don’t use sanitiser just before lighting a cigarette).
- Out of children’s reach (so, in schools and other educational settings, don’t let children use it unsupervised).
Also consider the quantities involved. If you are making or transporting sanitiser in bulk, you could well be dealing with 1,000 litre-plus quantities and that creates significant fire, health and environmental risks which a prudent employer should assess in detail and at length.
But, at the other end of the scale, I have been using a 50ml pocket-sized bottle of alcohol-based sanitiser for about a week now. So, comparing the two, if we agree 1,000 litres is a significant risk, my 50ml bottle is just 0.005% (that’s 5 thousandths of one percent) of that risk. The key message: quantity matters, and you can and should factor it into any risk assessment. Some materials create high risks even in tiny quantities, but sanitiser is not one of them.
To Sum Up
So, whether you are assessing sanitisers or cleaning products such as bleaches and detergents, start with the label. If you can honestly say those precautions are being followed, your assessment is pretty much complete, allowing you to get back to the challenge of making sure your other Covid-Secure safeguards are working effectively.