Dear Colleagues

If we know anything for certain about Covid-19, it’s that this virus is persistent. The first local outbreaks in February were then followed by a long period of crisis response and then a summer where daily life slowly appeared to be returning to some level of normality. We began to plan recovery. Now we must act as the pandemic evolves again.  

Today, the Government has just announced that the whole of London is to be placed on the ‘watch list’ of local authority ‘areas of concern’ in terms of the spread of Covid-19. We knew this might come and have been planning for it: over the course of the last two or three weeks, we have seen cases rise and new infections climb.

While the rates in Lambeth and London do not appear to be at the levels seen in the North East and North West of England and parts of Wales, we also know that the challenges of meeting demand for testing has meant that the London numbers are now likely to under-represent the true number of new infections. Given the way cases were rising previously, we would now expect them to be reaching levels seen in other areas on the “watch list” a few weeks ago. There is data for London which show an increasing number of people seeking healthcare for Covid-19 infections which reflects this trend. As a result, our aim now must be to slow the spread of the virus by strictly adhering to all the control measures in place. This is not a return to full lockdown, as happened in March. But it does mean that we will need to step up a gear, yet again.

Obviously, this announcement means how we work, live and travel are very much back in focus, as the Government’s announcements this week have made clear. I know that many people have concerns about using public transport. The transport network in London is critical to many residents and colleagues who have no access to personal vehicles. It is a priority for London and TfL to keep public transport safe to enable people to get to work, school and undertake their caring responsibilities. For those who do use public transport, based on the current information on transmission of infection, there have been no outbreaks associated with public transport to our knowledge. Using face coverings, travelling outside rush hour and choosing less congested routes will help protect against infection.

Of course, there are other ways of travelling into the workplace. We have support in place to enable staff to access bikes (including electric bikes) as an alternative and sustainable means of transport and are encouraging walking where this is possible or feasible. At the same time, because we know some colleagues will need to use their car, we will be making some changes to make it quicker to obtain permits for car use. Anyone who is an essential car user can apply directly for an emergency or statutory permit online.  This has taken away all paper approvals and is working well as far as we are aware. 

This is key, because it is linked to the work we have been doing to return priority ‘front-line’ staff to the workplace. Since the start of this month, a number of staff have been asked to begin returning to the office, at the Civic Centre and/or Town Hall, or to make visits to your clients, to young people or to those who are older or unwell. A number have already done so – for which thank you. Our vulnerable residents are not in lockdown and neither can the council be.  We have also started to explore how we can work together in small teams in those locations in a safe way where we believe it will add to the quality of our service to residents or enjoyment of our work.

I want to thank all those front-line staff who have worked with line managers to carry out individual risk assessments so that any return to the workplace can be done safely. The Facilities Management team and many other colleagues have worked extremely hard to completely re-configure our offices so that they are Covid-19 secure. When in the office, colleagues must abide by the rules on social distancing and follow the signage as they move about. More details are available on Lamnet.

However, the developing situation does mean that we will need to review the numbers of people who are required or offered the opportunity to return to the office/workplace. Earlier this week, the Prime Minister changed his previous advice and urged those of you who can work from home to do so. That has remained our clear position throughout this pandemic: only those ‘critical front-line’ workers providing support to the most vulnerable, services to keep our tenants safe and secure and those looking after our borough’s streets and parks are categorised as priority staff for return to the workplace.

Our advice to you today is:

• For now, those of you who are needed to return to the office/workplace should continue to work with your line manager to deliver this. Now, more than ever, we must provide services for people who need them.  A full risk assessment must be carried out and agreed before you do so, without exception.
• For those of you who can work from home, please continue to do so.
• Those who have agreed with managers that their well-being will be enhanced by being able to come into the office or workplace for all or part of the week, can also continue with this, but only where an agreed and confirmed risk assessment has been carried out.

I will update everyone on our next steps early next week, including any further clarifications to the return to the office/workplace process. In the meantime, I want to thank each and every one of you for your hard work and commitment to Lambeth.

Bayo Dosunmu
Strategic Director Resident Services

p.s. please do make sure that you download the new NHS Covid-19 app onto one of your devices (not more than one). This can be your personal or work mobile device, whichever you use most. Be aware though that the app does not work as well on older devices. More info is on Lamnet.