CORONAVIRUS UPDATE 16TH NOVEMBER 2020

Covid: Furlough extended to 31 March

The major Covid-19 announcement of the week came from the Chancellor yesterday (Thurs). With increasing political pressure from MPs on the impact of the new lockdown in England, the furlough scheme (Job Retention Scheme) has been extended until the end of March 2021. The plan is that it will be the same level of grant support that was provided under the scheme in August. The full guidance is due to be published on Mon/Tues next week (9/10 Nov), so full detail will only be available then. The latest information is here.
In short, the summary is:
• The scheme will pay 80% of employee wages up to £2,500/month (note this is higher than the version of the scheme that has operated in Sept & Oct)
• Employers have to pay NICs and pension contributions
• New staff can be furloughed, providing they were on payroll by 30 October
• The scheme will be reviewed in January, so employer contributions could change then
For clarity, the Job Support Scheme (the successor to furlough) is postponed indefinitely. Also, the job retention bonus (to be paid if previously furloughed staff remain in employment until Jan 2021) has been scrapped.
We also understand there will be moves to support the re-hiring of employees that were made redundant during October, prior to the late decision to extend furlough.

Preparing your food business for COVID-19 outbreaks and investigations

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) continues to develop its COVID-19 guidance package for food businesses, which aims to support Scottish Government's COVID-19 Framework for Decision Making (Scotland's Route Map through and Out of the Crisis). This has recently been updated with a new document that was developed in collaboration with Public Health Scotland to support food business operators with preparing for the investigations that will take place if an outbreak of COVID-19 is suspected in the workforce.
The Investigation of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Food Businesses guidance aims to help Food Business Operators (FBOs) to better understand the investigations that will take place when an outbreak of COVID-19 is identified in their workforce, and how an Incident Management Team (IMT) will decide on the actions that need to be taken to stop the further spread of the virus in the workplace and the wider community.
Whilst it is acknowledged that every outbreak is different, and there is no single set of defined criteria that can be used in every situation to determine the required steps to protect public health, reading this guidance will assist FBOs in preparing for the types of questions that are likely to be asked during an investigation and the broad principles that inform decisions taken by the IMT, including whether a business should be closed or can remain open.

The guidance also underlines the importance of FBOs being able to demonstrate to the IMT that they have taken appropriate steps to protect their workforce from the risks of COVID-19.

Key advice for FBOs in the guidance includes:
• Identify – to help identify a potential outbreak of COVID-19, maintain up-to-date records of working patterns of staff and maintain accurate sickness absence records across the whole workforce. An outbreak should be suspected if there are two or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the setting within 14 days, or an increase in the rate of absence due to suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19.
• Act – If there is any indication that an outbreak of COVID-19 may have occurred in the workforce (or there is an increased risk of one occurring), contact the relevant local NHS Board Health Protection Team (HPT) at the earliest opportunity. Contact details can be found here. The HPT will carry out an initial risk assessment quickly and will convene an IMT if an outbreak is suspected to confirm whether this is the case, and, if so, take over the investigation and identify appropriate action required to protect public health.
• Control – understand the FBO's legal obligations with regard to COVID-19 controls and the relevant guidance documents on safe working practices during the pandemic. These are frequently updated on FSS's website pages for food businesses.
• Prepare – understand in advance what information the IMT will require, which will include questions looking for accurate records of staff working on each shift and visitors to your site; how your workforce is organised; how employees move through the premises; plans for controlling the spread of COVID-19 leading up to the outbreak; preventative measures put in place to reduce the risks of COVID-19 at work; auditing procedures; staff PPE; cleaning procedures; how COVID-19 controls are communicated to staff and more.
Remember, where the food business is unable to provide sufficient evidence that they have effective COVID-19 measures in place, the IMT will inevitably have less confidence in the business and will require stronger action to be taken to protect public health.
In the event of food business closure or part closure, every effort will be made by the IMT to support the FBO in identifying where changes or improvements need to be made in order to minimise the risks of any further incidents. The re-opening of a premises is a decision for the IMT, together with the appropriate regulatory body.

This investigation document is part of FSS's package of practical COVID-19 guidance for food businesses, which, at time of writing, was last updated on 30 October 2020.
This includes:
• Business guidance on the changes to advice and requirements around COVID-19
• COVID-19 risk assessment tool
• COVID-19 summary checklist

FM warns level 4 restrictions may be put in place for some areas in the west

The first minister says the weekly levels of Covid restrictions will be confirmed tomorrow.
Ms Sturgeon explains one of the issues being looked at is whether the current restrictions are reducing Covid rates quickly enough, particularly in parts of the west of Scotland.
She says they have stable but stubbornly high prevalence of the virus.
There is not enough assurance hospital and ICU capacity will be high enough for the winter, she says.
The first minister says the high prevalence also means there may be less flexibility to offer careful and limited easing of restrictions over Christmas.
Moving to level 4 restrictions for a limited period in some areas would help address these concerns.

The Scottish Craft Butchers office in Perth is now closed following government guidelines.
We will be available to our members to answer any queries via email or by mobile phone and will be available out of office hours for any members wanting to contact us.
Our contact details are below
Gordon King: – [email protected] 07917524313
Bruce McCall: [email protected] 07834490922