COVID-19 Update 8th July 2021
Wedding Risk Assessment Support
People who are holding a wedding that is being attended by more than 30 guests in a venue that is not being operated in accordance with Covid Secure guidance are required to complete a risk assessment form that can be downloaded from a Gov.uk on the link below For the most part this will only apply to private venues such as people planning to have their wedding at home but there could be circumstances where this applies to a business where the person is hiring a site rather than the services of the business. Therefore it is worth noting that guidance on how the customer should complete the risk assessment form has been updated to say that if they need guidance on how to complete the risk assessment, they should call the Health and Safety Executive
Demonstrating Vaccination Status
The guidance on showing that you are vaccinated through the NHS Covid Pass has been updated to say that those people that have received the single-dose Janssen vaccine will show up on the pass as having received a full course of an approved vaccination.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/demonstrating-your-covid-19-status
Guidance On Providing Apprenticeships Updated
The guidance to businesses that have taken on apprentices has been updated:
-
- To reflect the change in the return to the workplace which will apply to apprentices as part of Step 4 of the roadmap
- With new references and links to the redundancy support service for apprentices
- To reflect ending of flexibility permitting end-point assessment prior to functional skills qualification achievement
- To reflect an extension of the temporary policy on suspending the requirement for Level 2 apprentices to attempt Level 2 functional skills assessment.
Transport Use
As ever, DfT has published their Thursday update on transport figures over the last week. Somewhat worryingly, the figures show that passenger number of Network Rail have decreased by about 6 percentage points over the last week and are back down below 50% of usual at around 45%. However, other forms of public transport use are stable with the Tube at around 45% or usual and bus services at around 65% of usual.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-use-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic
Out of School Guidance
The Department of Education has published a new guidance document for providers of activities, holiday or after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school settings offering provision to children. The document, COVID-19: Action for Out-of-school Settings, will apply from Step 4 and removes restrictions such;
-
- keeping children in consistent groups (bubbles)
- wearing face coverings
- limits on parental attendance
- restrictions on group sizes for residential visits.
It also includes information about updating your outbreak management plan and what to do when an individual in your setting tests positive for COVID-19.
Graduate Route Opened
Not Covid related but well worth highlighting considering the problems with recruitment at the moment is that the Home Office has opened applications for the new Graduate Immigration Route. This route provides an opportunity for international students who have been awarded their degree to stay in the UK and work, or look for work, at any skill level for 2 years, or 3 years for doctoral students. The Home Office has published a guidance document on how this route operates.
What will be of particular interest is that after working for 2 years, the applicant can switch to the Skilled Worker route and stay permanently if:
-
- They have a job offer from a Home Office-licensed sponsor at the required skill level
- They will be paid the relevant minimum salary threshold by your sponsor (normally £25,600 or the going rate for that particular job, whichever is higher)
- They can speak English at the intermediate level at B1 (on the Common European Framework of Reference for languages).
Package Travel Regulations Review
BEIS are starting on their review of the Package Travel Regulations and are planning to hold several workshops to gather views on particular areas that could be revised. The main areas they are are looking to cover are:
- The scope of what constitutes a package
- LTAs and basket-type holidays
- Cancellations and refunds
- Insolvency protections
- Communications and information requirements
Many of you will probably have already been contacted in relation to this but if you haven’t, and would like to be involved in the workshops, please let me know and I will liaise with BEIS on getting you invited to one of the workshops.
Related Posts
