Dear colleagues,

Over the weekend the Government reminded people to practice social distancing, instructing venues to close, and announcing shielding measures to protect people it has identified as particularly vulnerable who should stay home at all times for 12 weeks. This is a highly challenging time and I know teams are working around the clock to make sure we can deliver vital services and serve our most vulnerable residents.

I also want to ensure the health and wellbeing of staff. You will start to see some changes to make sure we are practicing social distancing in the office, for example, some desktop monitors have been removed to ensure a two metre distance remains between colleagues. Hand sanitiser dispensers will be put up tomorrow at entry and exit points in all our building, however washing your hands and practicing social distancing is the best defence.

Launch of Community Help Network

Today we launch The Community Help Network, which includes the launch of a new helpline service to provide additional support for the over 70s, who are self-isolating and do not have easy access to community support. Delivered in partnership with Age UK Waltham Forest, Eat or Heat and PL84U, vulnerable residents will be provided with support such as essential food supplies, prescription collections, emergency home repairs and social contact.

The network will also support the fantastic local efforts of the community helping each other. From this week residents will be able to sign up as a volunteer to help others in need, a crowdfunding platform to enable donations is in development, and residents are being asked to tell their stories of community kindness across the borough so they can be celebrated and shared with others. 

You can find out more about the service here where residents can also register for help or  call 020 8496 3000 between 9am-5pm. If you know someone in need you can register on their behalf.

Service Closures

As of today we will close our playgrounds and outdoor gyms in parks and enforce our markets to close, unless they sell essential goods and grocery items. We have taken the decision to close all of our libraries except for Walthamstow Library which will remain open to deliver essential services, see up to date service closures here. This decision means that library staff can now go on to support our essential services, such as the Call Centre.

Other staff will be redeployed as the situation evolves, I will be in the Call Centre myself tomorrow to lend a helping hand. 

Government advice

Government advice remains the same, people to work from home if they can but speak to your manager about how this is going to work and how we can ensure services still function. Please remember that not all staff will be able to work from home, and we encourage you to take this into account when communicating with your colleagues.

Ensuring business continuity I am regularly hearing stories of staff going above and beyond while we all work together to ensure business continuity and a safe environment for staff. The ServiceStore is carrying out deep cleans across various sites in the borough, and to cope with the demand they have had to call in additional staff and direct resources from non-urgent bookings to the decontamination unit meaning they can mobilise teams quickly to reduce response times. Last week they were able to deep clean Rowan House on the same day the request was received which meant the part of the building which had been closed off could be reopened minimising disruption to service delivery.

Thank you all for your hard work.

Martin Esom

Chief Executive