National Restrictions: update from the LGA's Chief Executive

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

 

LGA Logo with padding 2019

From the LGA's Chief Executive

2 November 2020

Twitter IconLinkedIn IconFacebook IconYoutube icon

Dear Colleague,

I have spoken to many chief executives over the weekend and today, as you sought to very quickly navigate what the new restrictions mean for your residents and businesses. Thank you for making the time to share your concerns and top issues with us so we can help to make sure councils' voices are heard in Government.  

The resilience, drive and passion in local government shines through in everything we are doing and discussing. I am still immensely proud of the leadership role councils all played during the first lockdown, as we worked around the clock to support the nation. I am even more confident of councils' efforts, with our partners, to step up again throughout this month of national restrictions as we support residents, especially those who are more vulnerable, businesses and education settings.

As always, the LGA will be here to support you as you work through the priority issues facing your area and to press for the powers and funding you need to lead your communities now and into the future. If you have any issues you think we should be aware of please get in touch with your Principal Adviser.

I’ve set out below updates on many of the points you've been raising with us as well as some of the issues we have been seeking clarification on today:

Prime Minister's statements

In his statement on Saturday, the Prime Minister announced a four-week period of national restrictions to seek to ease the spread and rise of infection across England. This will include closing non-essential shops and gyms, restricting the operation of pubs and restaurants, and scaling back activities in places of worship. This followed a presentation from Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance on the data driving the announcements.

The Prime Minister has further updated Parliament on the measures and package of support this afternoon. MPs are set to vote on the restrictions on Wednesday ahead of them coming into force at 00.01 on Thursday (5 November).

National restrictions

The Government has announced initial guidance on the restrictions the nation can expect to be in place from 5 November to 2 December. This covers the stay at home guidance, social distancing and meeting with others. It also includes the restrictions governing businesses and venues, weddings and funerals, religious services, going to work, education and childcare, protecting people at more of risk of infection, visiting relatives in care homes, travel and financial support.

Further to the Prime Minister's statement:

Economic support

The Government has announced a series of economic support measures to coincide with the national measures:

  • Business premises forced to close in England due to local or national restrictions are to receive grants worth up to £3,000 a month under the Local Restrictions Support Grant.
  • For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks;
  • For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks;
  • For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks.
  • £1.1 billion is being given to local authorities, distributed on the basis of £20 per head, for one-off payments to enable us to support businesses more broadly.

The LGA and councils are engaging closely with central government officials on what these business support measures mean for councils, including new burdens payments and what happens with grants previously announced such as the discretionary support for 'Tier 2' areas. We will update you on this in future bulletins as we receive further information.

  • The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended until December with employees receiving 80 per cent of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500. The LGA guidance on the scheme has been updated. The Government has confirmed that partially publicly funded bodies may be eligible to access the scheme where their private revenues have been disrupted.
  • The Government announced today that support for self-employed people will rise to 80 per cent of trading profits during November.
  • Mortgage holidays will also no longer end. The Financial Conduct Authority will announce further information today.

Support for the vulnerable

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) will be issuing updated guidance for those who are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) to use on top of national restrictions in England. This is likely to build on the advice for CEV people contained within the recent guidance for very high risk areas published in October.

The Government is keen to distinguish between the new advice and previous form of 'shielding'. Therefore, although the CEV group will be advised against going to work, shops or pharmacies, and only to travel for essential purposes, the advice will be less restrictive than shielding was in the first wave. Attending NHS appointments, exercise outdoors and meeting outside with the individual’s support bubble will be allowed, given the recognised impacts on wellbeing and mental health in the first wave. Those living with CEV individuals, such as children attending school, will not be expected to follow the guidance.  Those who cannot work at home will have access to Statutory Sick Pay and the furlough scheme if they are eligible, and community pharmacists will be funded to supply medicines.

Funding equivalent to £14.60 per CEV individual within the local authority area will be made available to unitary and county councils as an un-ringfenced grant, regardless of whether those individuals choose to receive support. A letter will confirm the amount to each council, including the need to passport to districts when appropriate. 

We expect the updated guidance to include further detail on how to seek support, including a link to the National Shielding Support System (NSSS) website that allows CEV to register and request priority supermarket delivery slots, if they haven’t obtained one of these already, or support from their council if they have no other means to access food. The website is expected to be open on a national basis from tomorrow morning.

Councils have been asked to continue putting the necessary arrangements in place to ensure that local support is available from Thursday, building on the work that you had already done to prepare for a reintroduction of shielding which MHCLG's recent framework set out expectations for. These arrangements will need to include council websites ensuring that there is clear signposting to the helpline/customer service number that CEVs should call if they need support and informing MHCLG regional leads if these have changed. This support may also include contacting the CEV group to ensure they are receiving support they need, as in wave one.

Councils will also be asked to return some outcomes-based data on the support provided, including additional costs incurred. The exact details of this request are due to be finalised following a discussion with the Shielding Stakeholder Engagement Forum tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday, 3 November). 

The NHS has continued to update the CEV group list, with councils receiving the current data of those identified as CEV in their area. It is anticipated that a much smaller number of clinically extremely vulnerable people will require direct support than when full shielding was in place earlier this year, with relatively low numbers of CEV people receiving support by the end of the shielding process in Leicester and Blackburn, or requesting it to date in Tier 3 areas.

Councils will receive updated guidance, letters sent to CEVs, as well as some Frequently Asked Questions which can be used in answering any questions CEVs may ask of councils. The first batch of letters to CEV individuals likely to be received through the post, with later batches arriving later in the week, with the text of the letter to be available on the gov.uk website.  We are working with the Government to ensure that information, data and funding to councils is effective and prompt to allow councils to continue to prepare over the coming days and to inform communications with vulnerable people in your communities. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available. If you have queries or comments, please do contact your representative on the MHCLG chaired Stakeholder Engagement Group ahead of the meeting tomorrow afternoon and do continue to keep your Principal Adviser informed of any capacity or resource issues or any queries.

Local government finances

We are liaising with central government on the wider package of financial support to councils during this time, as the regional tier system will be replaced with new national restrictions. We expect an announcement on this shortly.

Enforcement

The new national restrictions will mean that the focus of local enforcement activity switches to ensuring compliance with the expected business closure regulations, alongside the maintenance of COVID-secure measures in the premises permitted to remain open. Alongside councils, we are already involved in discussions with MHCLG about what we would like to see in the new regulations to enable us to build on learning from the earlier national lockdown. We are also emphasising the importance of rapid and clear guidance from the Government in relation to any difficult issues or questions of interpretation that arise in relation to the closure regulations once they are introduced.

The new national lockdown means that we are not now expecting new regulations giving councils the powers to issue improvement notices and closure orders in relation to COVID-secure regulations to be introduced this week. However, the Government has confirmed that they will be implemented shortly, and we will continue to push for these powers to be in place as and when the new national restrictions are lifted.

Testing and tracing

Local testing and tracing will continue to have a vital role as we seek to minimise the spread of infection in the coming weeks. Areas that have identified a need to secure more local testing capacity, or wish to enhance local contact tracing, are advised to contact their Senior Regional Coordinator for the Test and Trace programme in the first instance.

At the meeting of the Local Outbreak Plan Advisory Board on 4 November, we will get an update from Dr Carolyn Wilkins OBE, who is working at the centre of Government helping shape and implement the Test and Trace arrangements. We will use this opportunity, and other discussions, to push the urgent need to build upon successful local efforts to address the current inadequacies of the national NHS Test and Trace scheme.

We continue to make the case for councils to have clearer, more precise information on who they should be trying to contact as soon as possible, alongside the right resources including funding and recruiting extra personnel to work on the ground and respond quickly to outbreaks.

Schools, early years and childcare

Schools will remain open to all pupils for the duration of the lockdown and will only be closed as a measure of last resort. The Department for Education’s guidance for schools sets out what school leaders, teachers and school staff need to be aware of. This includes safe working and protective measures, remote education and online learning, SEND the day-to-day running of a school.

Last month the Department announced that students would be given more time to prepare for exams in 2021. We are calling for the Government to be clear on arrangements when pupils cannot sit exams, including whether a more blended approach to assessment could be taken that takes account of coursework when grades are decided.

The Government has confirmed that early years settings, like schools, will continue to stay open. Childcare is confirmed as an essential service and parents and carers are permitted to travel to take their child to care settings. Children can continue to access childcare settings whilst their parents and carers are working from home. We are awaiting confirmation if child and toddler groups will be able to continue.

Informal childcare arrangements are allowed to continue, where parents are able to form a childcare bubble with another household, where the child is 13 or under.

To support early years providers during the pandemic, the Government temporarily disapplied and modified certain elements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework. Some modifications are still in place, where settings need to take advantage of them.

Ofsted will continue with registration visits but with a documented careful risk assessment. Guidance will be published shortly on other external visitors to childcare settings, such as speech and language therapists.

Children's services

We are awaiting confirmation that exemptions to household mixing rules that applied under the tier system to allow prospective adopters to meet with children still apply. We are also seeking clarification about how family courts will operate during the new lockdown.

Temporary regulations are already in place to support children’s social care where public health restrictions may affect services. The Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2020 allow visits to take place over the telephone or electronic communication methods, where face-to-face visits are not possible due to coronavirus, and change the rules regarding health assessments for prospective adopters and foster carers. Any use of the regulations must have approval at chief officer levels and be properly recorded along with reasons for their use.

Responding to concerns raised by the LGA and the Association of Directors of Children's Services, Ofsted announced last week that assurance visits to Tier 3 areas were being suspended. We are now calling for an urgent conversation with the Inspectorate to discuss the suspension of all non-emergency inspection of council children’s services.

Children's health

A reminder that a joint letter from the LGA, NHS England and Improvement and Public Health England has been sent to all Directors of Nursing. This advises that professionals supporting children and families – such as health visitors, school nurses, designated safeguarding officers and nurses supporting children with special educational needs – should not be redeployed to other services. If you experience issues with this locally, please email vanessa.lucas@local.gov.uk 

Homelessness

We are seeking clarification on whether new guidance will be issued on accommodating people sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough, following on from the Everyone In initiative announced on 23 March. The Government’s Rough Sleeping Advisory Group meets tomorrow and we will push for more clarity.

Libraries

We understand that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Libraries Team is working to establish clear guidelines for councils on what elements of a library service may remain open during the lockdown period. We anticipate these regulations will be published later this week and the LGA will share any further updates in these bulletins.

Remembrance Sunday

We are aware that councils are receiving a number of queries about the status of this Sunday’s Remembrance commemorations. We are seeking clarity on specific guidance for councils. While it is being reported by some news outlets that small and socially distanced wreath laying ceremonies will be permitted to go ahead, we are awaiting official guidance on this from the Government. We will keep you updated in these bulletins.

Cross-UK working

A COBRA meeting took place this morning with the Devolved Administrations. The UK Government and the devolved administrations agreed on the importance of coordinating public messaging, in particular on travel both within the UK and abroad. They also confirmed that officials from across the UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive will also work together on a joint approach to the Christmas period.

This week

I know many council leaders and chief executives are concerned about how activity over the next three days can impact on the spread of infection in the days and weeks ahead, as some may seek to maximise opportunities to socialise while restrictions in some places are less restricted. We are relaying your concerns to central government colleagues. I have seen that a number of councils are using your local communications to encourage all residents to remain vigilant and make the changes now that can help us all slow the rise.

Transition to local restrictions

Until Thursday 5 November, the relevant Local Covid Alert Level (LCAL) measures will continue to apply in the area where you live. From Thursday the national restrictions replace the local restrictions in your area. The Government has indicated that no new areas will move in the LCAL Very High restrictions between now and Thursday and that new measures will apply nationally for four weeks up to Wednesday 2 December. The Prime Minister also confirmed this afternoon that, at the end of the period, we will look to return to a local and regional approach. We are working to ascertain from Government what this will mean for the LCAL measures going forwards and will continue to update you on this topic in future bulletins.

I hope this update, while certainly not exhaustive of everything your council will be seeking to work through today, is helpful. Please do continue to liaise with your please get in touch with your Principal Adviser on any issues of concern in your area that we may be able to help with.

My next update to you will be tomorrow, when hopefully we will have some further information and guidance from the Government to help councils prepare for Thursday.

Best wishes,

Mark Lloyd
Chief Executive
Local Government Association
@MarkLloydLGA

Mark Lloyd