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Jonathan Marron
Director General, Community & Social Care
39 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0EU
T 020 7210 4383
E Jonathan.Marron@dhsc.gov.uk
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26 March 2019
Dear colleague,
As you will have seen, the UK Government has now agreed an extension to Article 50. If the Withdrawal Agreement is approved by the House of Commons this week, the exit date will be confirmed for 11pm on 22 May (UK time). If the Withdrawal Agreement is not approved by the House of Commons, the legal default in UK and EU law is that the UK will leave the EU on 12 April 2019 without a deal.
Therefore, as a responsible government we must now plan for a no deal scenario on 12 April.
Please continue the work you are undertaking to prepare your organisation for leaving the EU without a deal and do not wind-down your contingency plans at this stage. You may need to make changes to stop your no deal plans coming into force on 29 March and re-programme preparations to be ready for 12 April.
The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work on its no deal plans and we are writing in similar terms to all other organisations in the health and care system to ask them to continue their plans.
I am very grateful for your excellent engagement over the last few months - our plans are well advanced as a result. While we never give guarantees, we are confident that, if everyone – including suppliers, freight companies, international partners, and the health and care system - does what they need to do, the supply of medicines and medical products should be uninterrupted in the event of exiting the EU without a deal.
In the meantime, please see attached further details of our EU exit contingency planning for adult social care providers and local authorities from Steve Oldfield, our Chief Commercial Officer. If you have any other queries, I would encourage you to use your established points of contact in national organisations. Please also check www.gov.uk for information.
Finally, please ensure you cascade this email to your staff, key stakeholders and any other interested parties.
Yours sincerely,
JONATHAN MARRON
DIRECTOR GENERAL, COMMUNITY & SOCIAL CARE
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