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Dear Colleague,
This week came the announcement we have all been waiting for as the UK regulator approved the first vaccine candidate from Pfizer-BioNTech. We will all be hoping that other vaccines also prove to be effective and safe allowing mass vaccination in the early part of 2021. There are of course still many challenges ahead and we have once again been reminded of the sad impact Covid has had as we received the sad news that deaths in the UK have now reached 60,000. It is vital that we work together to build public confidence in the vaccine and support the huge logistical efforts to distribute it. As ever, councils are ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with the NHS and are working closely with health service colleagues in preparing for this unprecedented rollout.
The pandemic has also proven the value of councils’ local knowledge and understanding of our communities, which will be essential in encouraging people to get vaccinated. Your unique relationship with residents will be vital in reaching out to all those who have been listed as priority groups by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and beyond. Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers top the list, followed by all those aged 80 and over and frontline health and social care workers. This will be a monumental logistical operation and I know one which you and your colleagues will be doing what you can to help support.
It is also welcome to see that the reproduction or R number has fallen to between 0.8 and 1, for the second week running. This is down to your hard work over the past few weeks during the national restrictions. The Government has also announced that a review of the current tiers will be conducted on 16 December. We understand that decisions will be announced on the 17th with implementation on the 19th.
We also know that the end of the Brexit transition period is high on the agenda. It was a key topic of conversation when our councillors discussed upcoming priorities at the LGA Executive on Thursday. We continue to closely track the negotiations and will continue to raise your issues with Government whether a deal is agreed or not.
As always, please continue to liaise with your Principal Adviser if you would like to discuss any of pressing issues relating to your local area.
COVID-19 vaccine
The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has been authorised for use, with the first batch being made available across the UK from next week. It has been concluded by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency MHRA that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness, following months of rigorous clinical trials and analysis. Further details will be announced shortly but the Government has urged people to continue to abide by the necessary restrictions to allow the NHS to work without being overwhelmed. NHS England have published the Enhanced Service Specification for Primary Care Networks who have received confirmation that they will be local vaccination centres. A letter from senior NHS leaders about the next steps has also been published.
We understand that the Department of Health and Social Care will be writing to the social care sector setting out plans for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to priority groups. We expect the letter to be sent this evening.
We have also set up a new page on COVID-19 vaccinations on our website. This shares the latest information and guidance relating to the COVID-19 vaccinations and the page includes the Government's COVID-19 communications toolkit. Further resources will follow and we will continue to update this page with the latest information and guidance.
Training vaccinators
Health Education England (HEE) are working with individual NHS organisations and driving local recruitment efforts to recruit and train vaccinators. HEE’s e-Learning for Healthcare team have worked with PHE to put together and host a comprehensive training package for vaccinators. This was launched on the e-Learning for Healthcare Hub last Friday. HEE also putting in place national arrangements with NHS Professionals to recruit additional people to support the vaccination roll out, as well as with St John Ambulance to source trained volunteers and train additional volunteers; and taking up the offer made by retired staff to come back to the NHS.
Enforcement
I know that your teams are grappling with queries relating to the new regulations. Yesterday, the Government published a suite of updated guidance on business closures and restrictions, festive restrictions and activities and events. We are seeking guidance from the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) on the questions you’ve raised. As a reminder, your legal teams and compliance officers can now sign up to OPSS’s business restrictions mailing list to receive their updates, templates notices and guidance directly. Following the LGA’s compliance and enforcement webinar yesterday, OPSS are holding a further briefing for officers next Wednesday 9 December – for further information please contact OPSS.enquiries@beis.gov.uk.
We updated our guidance on the issue of substantial meals as the original version of the guidance already referred to various pork-based snacks, but not scotch eggs! We also published a compliance framework on behalf of MHCLG. With colleagues from OPSS and the MHCLG compliance working group, we have worked with the Department to try to steer the continuing interest in your compliance activity at the highest level of Government into a document that is focused on good practise and sharing councils’ excellent work, rather than something that looks simply at numbers of notices issued, so I hope the resource is helpful to you.
It is also welcome that the Government has listened to our calls and brought forward new enforcement powers for councils to ensure compliance with COVID-19 regulations. For further information on the regulations, please read our parliamentary briefing.
Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme
The DHSC want to assure councils that the Government has committed to covering the payments made by local authorities’ under the main scheme, as well as administration. Work is underway to commence topping up the initial allocations. DHSC is aware there have been occasions when councils have made payments but have subsequently been unable to find the case when going back into the Eligibility Checker to report the outcome of the application. This means that these cases are not being reported to DHSC even though money has been paid out. Where this is case, please email sam.low@dhsc.gov.uk with the total number of main and discretionary payments from your local authority. This will allow DHSC to add these figures to the dashboard and ensure that the amount of money you are spending on the scheme is being assessed accurately.
There will be a working group with all councils who have responsibility for administering self-isolation payments with DHSC next Friday 11 December between 11am and 12pm. The call will be used to provide an update on the scheme (including information on funding), discuss the approach to fraud and address operational queries. An invitation with details of how to access the call will be sent out to all relevant councils early next week.
Care homes
The Government has published updated Guidance designed to support families to visit their loved ones in care homes where this can be done safely, alongside proportionate measures to manage and mitigate the risks arising from increased numbers of visitors. The Government has also published new Guidance for those of working age in residential settings on making visits out of their care setting.
Better Care Fund
The Government has published the Better Care Fund: policy statement 2020 to 2021 which confirms how local authorities and clinical commissioning groups should proceed with finalising plans and pooling agreements for funding under the Better Care Fund (BCF) in 2020 to 2021. The guidance states that there is no need to submit a formal BCF plan this year, but that Health and Wellbeing Board areas are still expected to follow the core national conditions and to evidence how they have done this at year end.
Disabled Facilities Grant
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has announced an additional £68 million to adapt homes for people with disabilities in England. The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) is intended to help thousands more disabled people to be able to live safely and independently in their own homes, with the funding for councils to be used towards the costs of adaptations such as stair-lifts, level access showers, wet rooms, winches, grab rails and ramps. We are pleased that government has listened to our call to increase the DFG and will continue to make the case that accessible and adaptable housing is an essential part of the national ambition to build new homes.
Loneliness advent calendar
The Government has launched ‘Staying Connected This Winter’. The online advent calendar brings together practical advice, inspiring stories, and support routes to encourage people to take the first steps to alleviate loneliness in themselves and others. It will be updated daily.
EU transition
As the negotiations between the UK and EU continue, we know councils are preparing as best they can for the end of the transition period. Our EU Transition pages highlight the key issues for councils. The Government’s Local Government Transition pages provides guidance and resources for local government to prepare, including guidance and online training for regulatory services. Please do continue to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns about preparing for EU transition by emailing EUTransition@local.gov.uk.
School examinations
You will no doubt have seen that the Secretary of State for Education announced that the Government will introduce a range of extra measures to support students ahead of next summer’s exams. Further to the three-week delay to exams announced in October, students will also benefit from more generous grading than usual. There will also be advance notice of some topic areas covered in GCSE as well as exam aids provided in some exams and additional exams to give students a second chance to sit a paper if the main exams or assessments are missed due to illness or self-isolation. A new expert group to look at differential learning and to monitor the variation in the impact of the pandemic on students across the country was also announced.
University returns
The Department for Education has also published guidance for higher education institutions on managing the return of students after Christmas. The guidance recommends a staggered return over five weeks, that students are offered two 'rapid' lateral flow tests three days apart during which period they limit contact with others, and that students travelling from tier 3 areas take a test where possible before returning to University. Students who get a positive lateral flow test will need a confirmatory PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test and should self-isolate while awaiting this result. The Government has also announced a one-off fund of up to £20 million to help students most in need of support, which we await further details of.
Post-16 high needs provision
Earlier this year we commissioned the Association of Colleges and Natspec, the membership body for specialist colleges, to carry out research into the system for further education. The report, which was launched this week, highlights that the system is overly complicated, resulting in young people, their parents, councils and colleges facing challenges that have a detrimental impact on those students in further education with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Children’s social care
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services released their interim report on pressures on children’s social care faced by councils during 2019/20. The report reinforces the significant budget reductions councils have experienced and increasing numbers of children needing urgent help. In our response, we reiterated our calls for councils to have enough funding to reinvest in the preventative and early-help services that children, young people and families need to avoid them falling into crisis.
Ofsted
Ofsted has announced that inspection activity in 2021 will happen in phases, with no graded inspections for education or social care providers planned before the summer term. Inspectors will discuss the approach to routine inspection in 2021 with sector representatives and test it through a series of pilot visits, where necessary. Additional information on arrangements for maintained schools and nurseries, independent schools, education and skills, early years, children’s social care and SEND area inspections is available on the Department for Education website and we will communicate further detail on this as and when we know more.
Early years
An updated version of the Early Years guidance has been published
This update covers:
- Updated references to contingency framework
- Minor updates to hyperlinks to clarify funding entitlements for users
- Updated parent/child position from 2 December (that these groups can meet in all local restriction tiers)
Winter Grant Scheme
Colleagues are working very hard to ensure that the funding you have received via the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reaches households and families at risk of food poverty and financial hardship as effectively as possible over the winter period. Although the funding is, of course, welcome, many of you have raised concerns about how little notice you were given and how quickly the funding needs to be used. You have also highlighted the considerable pressures that will remain on low-income households beyond the end of this financial year, and the need to invest in preventative support. We continue, therefore, to make the case to Government that funding for the local safety net must be put on a sustainable footing.
Strengthening local welfare assistance
Earlier in the year we produced guidance on local hardship schemes that some of you may find useful. We have also been engaging with a wide range of partners supporting families, children and low-income households. Meanwhile a broad coalition of charities, led by The Children’s Society, have come together to highlight the need for local welfare funding to be put on a more sustainable footing, and to set out the benefits of some of the Winter Grant Scheme funding to be put towards wider support.
Child Food Poverty
Many of you are using the Winter Grant Scheme funding to put towards voucher schemes to provide immediate help with food and other essentials to families with children. We will continue to work with you and Government to address child food poverty and ‘holiday hunger’, including other measures announced alongside the WGS including the Holiday Activities Fund and support for Healthy Start Vouchers.
The Child Food Poverty Taskforce are developing an interactive website which we understand will be going live next week. We have collated details of every council’s COVID-19 support pages to enable the Food Foundation to update the website without placing an additional burden on you in the run up to Christmas. If you would like to provide more tailored information, there is a form that you can complete. The BBC has also been filming a documentary about Marcus Rashford’s campaign on child food poverty and following him over the past 6 months. The film is expected to air on the BBC at 9pm on Monday 21 December (to be confirmed). We wanted you to be aware that this may lead to people both seeking and offering support in your area.
Housing and planning
The Government will be consulting on proposals for a new fast track planning process to support housing delivery and public infrastructure. Schools, colleges, universities, prisons and hospitals will be eligible for a new streamlined planning application process. To do this the Government propose introducing a new national permitted development right for the change of use from the new Commercial, Business and Service use class to residential use. We will be consulting with members on the proposals to provide the Government with a response.
Christmas travel
The Department for Transport (DfT) announced plans to help minimise disruption and allow people to travel safely over the Christmas period. They have announced that between 23 and 27 December people may travel between tiers and other nations of the UK if necessary to meet with their Christmas bubble. They have also stated that 778 miles of roadworks will be cleared for the period, rail upgrades will be postponed to enable extra train services and longer trains and extra services will be added alongside waiving of admin fees to change advance rail tickets.
Sports England
Sport England has updated their Frequently Asked Questions on return to play for sport and physical activity, which reflects the new three tiers of restrictions. It includes advice on spectators attending sporting events. Specific queries can be sent to returntoplay@sportengland.org Government guidance for grassroots sports and guidance on team, contact, combat sport and organised sport events has also been published.
Revaluation of business rates
As I updated a few weeks ago, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is contacting businesses to request rental information to support the next revaluation of business rates in England and Wales – Revaluation 2023. They are aware that local authorities usually have multiple properties as owners or occupiers, and have asked us to highlight their Valuation Office Rating Contact (VORC) scheme to enable rental information to be submitted in bulk, rather than complete the online form for each individual property. The VAO hope this is a more efficient and cost-effective means of submitting tenure data and can reduce the administrative burden of completing individual forms and minimise the risk of incurring penalties for non-compliance. For more information, contact the VORC team on vorc@voa.gov.uk.
Public Works Loans Board (PWLB)
In the Spending Review the Chancellor announced a cut in PWLB lending rates and new lending terms following the HM Treasury consultation earlier this year. Under the new terms, Finance Directors will be required to certify that that there is no intention to buy investment assets primarily for yield at any point in the next three years, in order to qualify for any PWLB loans. After the announcement, the Debt Management Office (the body that administers the PWLB) has published more detailed HM Treasury guidance on the new lending arrangements. Paragraphs 20 to 22 of this cover refinancing or extending existing debt from any source and state that this will be available to all local authorities. We have discussed this with officials and we understand that this means that even councils that are planning to buy investment assets primarily for yield will still be able to access PWLB loans for general refinancing purposes, provided that they do not use them to refinance newly acquired investment assets held primarily for yield. This should provide helpful flexibility for councils and is a welcome response by Government to points made by our sector in the consultation on the lending arrangements.
Audit fees
We have submitted a response to the Public Sector Audit and Appointments (PSAA) consultation on proposals for a new process for agreeing variations to audit fees. This applies to the process for agreeing in year fee variations for all audits from 2020/21 onwards. The proposed new process includes PSAA setting fees for variations due to national factors, which is welcome. Any actual variations to fees need to be properly justified and clearly relate to additional work required. Today the PSAA has also published the findings of its latest audit round, focusing on 2019/20 financial statements. It shows that that 55 per cent (265) of audit opinions were not issued by 30 November.
Local government pay 2021
As set out in our Spending Review On-the-Day Briefing, national government cannot impose a pay freeze nor mandate a pay increase for just lower paid workers in local government or fire and rescue services, as pay is determined between the employers and unions (either nationally or locally). The National Joint Council (‘NJC Green Book’) unions for local Government has informed us that their pay claim will not be lodged until next year. Councils will be consulted on it in order to inform the National Employers’ position for when they reach the stage of formally responding.
A continuing challenge for the NJC National Employers arises from the Government’s target for the National Living Wage (NLW) to reach two thirds of median earnings in 2024; current forecasts show that to be £10.69 per hour. The bottom hourly rate for ‘Green Book’ employees is currently £9.25 (outside London) so, if the forecast remains unchanged, there are only three or four pay rounds remaining in order to increase just the bottom pay point by a potential further 15.6 per cent.
Teachers’ pay
Pay for teachers is determined each year by the DfE following recommendations from the independent pay review body, the School Teachers Review Body (STRB). The STRB is given a remit which we expect before Christmas and is likely to reflect the stated government policy on public sector pay. At that point we will consult councils to inform the National Employers' Organisation for School Teachers (NEOST) response. There are still matters to consider beyond the pay award itself, so the remit remains important despite the headline freeze.
Immigration
Applications are now open for a number of immigration routes under the UK’s new points-based immigration system, including the Skilled Worker route. This means applicants can now start to apply for their visas. Information for employers has been made available by the Home Office. Under the new Skilled Worker route, anyone coming to the UK to work will need to demonstrate that they have a job offer from a Home Office-licensed sponsor at the required skill and salary level. They will also need to speak English to the required standard. Alongside the Skilled Worker visa, a number of other routes have been opened, including the Global Talent visa, Innovator visa, Start-up visa, and the Intra-company Transfer visa.
Local Authority Land Ambition (LALA) Survey
The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government’s final Local Authority Land Ambition Survey was sent to all local authority Chief Executives on Thursday, This follows a previous national government announcement in 2016 that councils would collaborate with central government on a Local Authority Land Ambition, working with their partners to release surplus local authority-owned land with the capacity for 160,000 homes by the end of March 2020. This is being monitored via the LALA survey which collects details of all authority-owned land released for housing between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2020. Although MHCLG have gathered data from the majority of local authorities so far, they would welcome your support in obtaining a full data set from a final LALA survey in order to shape and focus their approach to supporting local authorities to deliver housing on their surplus land going forwards. The survey is being managed by the One Public Estate Team, who have emailed the survey and supporting survey guidance notes to all Chief Executives. The OPE Team are also holding workshops that provide further guidance on how to complete the survey and are available to support councils to meet the survey deadline of Friday 8 January 2021. If you have any further queries, please email onepublicestate@local.gov.uk
Coronavirus report
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus published its interim report. The report contains some key recommendations which we support, including the need for a locally-led test and trace system backed up by national coordination and resources, alongside the need for precise, granular-level data on who to contact and adequate financial support for those who have to self-isolate. The report also covers a range of issues, such as PPE provision, the challenges facing social care, central the success of central government communications to name a few and is worth a read over a cuppa. Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chair of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, appeared before the inquiry in September and it is good to read that parliamentarians are listening to many of the points we’ve all been raising.
Parliament
It has been another important week in Parliament. As well as the passing of the approach to local tiers and the publication of Coronavirus APPG report, several councillors have appeared before parliamentary committees to ensure that your work remains high on the agenda. Cllr Teresa Heritage discussed the challenges facing SEND services with the SEND APPG, Cllr David Renard appeared before the Transport Committee to discuss the future of public transport and the APPG on Conservation, Places and People to discuss planning reform. We were also quoted extensively as the Lords debated the Spending Review, including former LGA Chair Baroness Eaton calling for financial certainty and sustainability for councils through multi-year settlements, while MPs debated homelessness and digital connectivity.
Cyber Aware campaign
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has launched the Cyber Aware campaign to help individuals and organisations protect themselves online. The campaign is being delivered by the NCSC, alongside the Cabinet Office, Department for Culture Media and Sport and the Home Office. There are a number of materials and a campaign toolkit available.
Upcoming events
I wanted to take the opportunity to alert you to some upcoming events that I thought you or your teams might be interested to join. These include:
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Test and trace: A reminder that on Thursday 10 December, 11:30am – 12:30pm, we are hosting a webinar for council chief executives with Baroness Dido Harding, Dr Carolyn Wilkins OBE, and Gina Naguib-Roberts (Director of Strategy and Engagement, Contain) to discuss how Test and Trace will work in an integrated way with local partners in the evolving Test and Trace business model. Direct invites to chief executives will be circulated on Monday, but for now please hold the time in your diary.
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Freeports: For those interested in the Government’s recent launch of its Freeports Bidding Prospectus, there is a cross-Whitehall Q&A session on Freeports aimed at councils and Local Enterprise Partnerships. The discussion will be hosted on MS Teams on 9 December at 2pm and colleagues can register for it through Eventbrite. Questions can also be submitted in advance at https://www.sli.do/ using the code 85129.
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Diversity: we are holding a webinar on addressing equality, diversity and inclusion issues and sharing good practice on the 16 December. To find out more and book your place, please visit our website.
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Finance Panels: Finally, as part of our financial resilience offer, we are drawing together groups of CFOs to share their experiences and learning. The Collaborative Finance Panels will provide a platform for sharing information and as a learning network where issues and concerns can be discussed in a supportive and constructive environment. This support is particularly timely given the impact of the pandemic and the intense financial pressure that most local authorities are facing. The panel will bring together a small group of officers from different parts of the country to discuss common and current related problems and each session will be focused on a theme. We have suggested a few dates in December and it would be helpful if you could let us know which of these works for you:
- Tuesday 15 December: 15.30 – 17.00
- Wednesday 16 December: 10.00 – 11.30
- Thursday 17 December: 11.00 – 12.30
- Friday 18 December: 10.00 – 11.30,11.00 – 12.30, 15.30 – 17.00
Please get in touch with alan.finch@local.gov.uk and olayinka.animashaun@local.gov.uk with your preferred date if you would like to join us.
It has been another fast paced and busy week so I hope you all get a break over the weekend. My next scheduled update is on Tuesday and as ever if you have any queries please get in touch with your Principal Advisor.
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Best wishes,
Mark Lloyd
Chief Executive
Local Government Association
@MarkLloydLGA
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