We know that the coronavirus outbreak is of deep concern to staff. We want you to know that the council is working hard with our partners to issue advice and guidance which is up to date, and which answers your concerns. The Government’s advice will change as we move through the various phases of managing the situation.

We ask that all staff be aware of the changing position, that advice and information only be sought from reliable and authoritative sources and that rumours are treated as such.

Finally, we want to thank all staff for their continued hard work on behalf of the people of Lambeth. It is appreciated

There have been a series of key Government announcements on the management of the COVID-19/coronavirus outbreak. These are:

• Just announced: Cafes, pubs, bars, nightclubs, gyms and restaurants must close from tonight (Friday)
• Just announced: £1bn for renters - housing benefit and Universal Credit so local housing allowance will cover at least 30per cent of market rent in area
• The Government has announced that all schools across the UK will close, from today (Friday) – however, schools will need to look after children who are vulnerable and children of key workers.We are still waiting on information to see what this will mean for some of our workforce and will keep you updated.
• The educational closures extend to nurseries and colleges (and also includes private schools) and all exams will be cancelled
• The Government is now advising that, where possible, people should work from home
• Members of the public should exercise so-called ‘social distancing’ measures and reduce contact with large numbers of people
• This is accompanied by advice that the public should avoid theatres and pubs, but no official direction has been given that these should close
• The Bank of England is considering financial hand-outs to businesses and households
• Transport: TFL are advising on essential travel only and are planning to close some tube stations and run reduced services on certain lines to allow for key workers to get to work. You can see full information on their website. Other train lines are also proposing reduced services so please check before travelling

Updated information for all staff

• Key workers who *require* child care at schools, or need to remain at school can apply via this website to receive a letter to give to a headteacher if they are successful.
• We are treating our agency staff as ‘permanent’ so that they will be paid if sick or self-isolating. Please visit Coronavirus Lamnet page for full explanation of this
• We have also updated guidance around expectant mothers and those with underlying health issues, please visit Coronavirus Lamnet page for update.
• We are still waiting for the delivery of Personal Protective equipment and once arrived will distribute to staff as quickly as we can, information about this can be found in this document
• Very soon we will start deploying staff to those areas within the council which are in most need of resources due to staff shortages, more information on this to come
• If staff have any work related concerns or questions they can email Covid19info@lambeth.gov.uk – this address is being constantly monitored and responses will be co-ordinated and sent as soon as possible
• Please keep a regular eye on the new BAU page on Lamnet for essential service related information which may be of use to everyone. This includes information about post, data protection, ICT services and more

• Watch back Thursday’s Team Live session with Andrew Travers and Ruth Hutt taking your questions on the Covid-19

What the council is doing

• We continue to direct residents, staff and other stakeholders, such as the VCS sector, to the main sources of Public Health England and NHS information which are updated regularly to reflect the changing situation. All of our resident-facing communications are pushing the lines on infection control, self-isolation and care
• Our website is being fully updated on a rolling basis with information as varied as health protection information, notification of reduced customer services, support for the community and VCS sector
• We have established a Borough Emergency Control Centre (BECC) – this is currently located in the Town Hall, but will move to the Civic Centre
• 1700 Lambeth council staff are now working from home (WFH), or working remotely – this is only utilising 50per cent of our available band-with, which means we have plenty of additional capacity to support our ‘managed’ WFH approach
• We successfully co-ordinated a clear lobbying position on business support, alongside the BIDs, including the Leader writing to the Chancellor calling for enhanced support – information can be found on the website

Work-streams to support the Council and Residents

The Pandemic Coordination Group has established four work-streams to drive and shape our local response, these are:

• Business continuity across the council, including commissioned services (led by Bayo Dosunmu)
• Helping our residents and community, including the VCS sector (led by Paul Bates)
• Our local economy, support for business and the borough’s workforce (led by Sara Waller and Eleanor Purser)
• Individual resilience (led by Bayo Dosunmu and Christina Thompson)

Preventing Scams and Fraud

As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, there is raised awareness of a number of scams – there are no reports or referrals in Lambeth as yet, however we anticipate that any related incidents are likely to be high-value frauds in connection with targeting older people around ‘steam cleaning’ or ‘disinfecting’ of properties and driveways; and bogus callers claiming to be NHS staff who are being sent to homes to make either food parcel drops or food collections.

We will continue to work with our MPS colleagues in raising awareness of these scams. Staff are asked to report any fraudulent activity to the police or to tradingstandards@lambeth.gov.uk. If a scam is taking place at the time the advice is to phone 999.

Coronavirus Bill (Parliament)

The Government has announced that a Coronavirus Bill will be laid before Parliament, containing a series of provisions around relief to vulnerable groups, for businesses and funding for local authorities to finance the significant help and assistance which councils like Lambeth are now having to provide. This includes some key changes for how the ASC team will work going forward.

Community and Voluntary Action (Mutual Aid Groups)

The Community Response and Support work-stream is working on the volunteer co-ordination and the ‘health’ of the VCS in Lambeth as it deals with the coronavirus outbreak. The team is working with organisations and volunteers on serious issues around food and financial security. This work aligns with that of the Financial Resilience work-stream to feed in relevant intelligence and support.  

This team is now connected to the VCS sector and Mutual Aid Groups that are emerging. These include formal networks including the Lambeth Forum Network, Community Hub Network, Faiths Together in Lambeth and others, as well as recently emerged grassroots, borough wide networks who are mobilising in response to the current situation.

Lambeth Council, 20 March 2020