The Government have put together several guides to ensure your workplace is safe for re-opening to protect staff and customers. You may need to consider reviewing more than one guide as many businesses operate several different types of workplace. 

You must not reopen if your business is closed under current government rules. Check if your business can reopen 

Businesses should collect details and maintain records of staff, customers and visitors on their premises to support NHS Test and Trace. There is a higher risk of transmitting Coronavirus in premises where customers and visitors spend a longer time in one place and potentially come into close contact with other people outside of their household. 

To manage this risk, businesses in the following sectors, whether indoor or outdoor venues or mobile settings, should collect details and maintain records of staff, customers and visitors:

• hospitality, including pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés
• tourism and leisure, including hotels, museums, cinemas, zoos and theme parks
• close contact services, including hairdressers, barbershops and tailors
• facilities provided by local authorities, including town halls and civic centres for events, community centres, libraries and children’s centres
• places of worship, including use for events and other community activities

See further guidance on the information to collect, how records should be maintained, and when information should be shared with NHS Test and Trace. 

From 4 July, people can stay overnight away from home with their own household or support bubble, or with members of one other household. People should not stay overnight away from their home with members of more than one other household.

This guidance for Hotels and Other Guest Accommodation sets out how to open businesses safely while minimising the risk of spreading coronavirus (COVID-19). Accommodation providers may also need to refer to guidance for Restaurants, Pubs, Bars and Takeaway Services, guidance for Small Marriages and Civil Partnerships, and guidance for Outdoor Playgrounds and Gyms, depending on the facilities and services available at their sites.

Accomodation providers including hotels should not host conferences or events until guidance on mixing household groups is changed.

Current government advice is:

• No gatherings of more than 30 people should be taking place 
• People should not gather indoors in groups of more than 2 households (support bubble counts as one household)
• Gather outside in a group larger than 6 people from different households

Guidance on guests self-isolating as required by law

Certain individuals travelling from overseas will be required by law to self-isolate for a period of 14 days. Businesses providing holiday accommodation can provide rooms to those required to self-isolate. Accommodation for these purposes should adhere to the same guidelines as for other permitted stays, including on social distancing and cleaning.

What happens if a guest is displaying symptoms of Coronavirus?

If a guest is displaying signs of the coronavirus (COVID-19) virus while staying in overnight accommodation for a permitted reason, they should inform the accommodation provider, immediately self-isolate where they are to minimise any risk of transmission, and request a test. If they are confirmed to have coronavirus (COVID-19), they should return home if they reasonably can. They should use private transport but only drive themselves if they can do so safely. 

Unless otherwise provided for in the contractual terms of the booking, the guest will be expected to pay the costs of an extended stay in all but exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances may include but are not limited to where the accommodation provider has failed to follow government guidance to create a covid-secure environment.

Find out more

Employers that want to reopen their business have a legal responsibility to protect their employees and other people on site. The UK government has developed a new tool and guidance for businesses to check what their workplace needs to do to keep people safe.

Businesses should use this guidance to assist with a risk assessment and make sensible adjustments to the site and workforce. If businesses do not carry out a risk assessment, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or relevant local council can issue an enforcement notice. This guidance is only for businesses that are allowed to reopen in England.

More pubs, restaurants and cafes will be able to serve customers outdoors in plans announced by the government.

• The government will simplify and reduce the costs of the licensing process for outdoor seating and stalls, making it easier for people to safely drink and dine outside. 

• Proposed planning freedoms will mean that outdoor markets, pop-up car-boot sales or summer fairs will not need a planning application.

• Pubs and restaurants will be able to use car parks and terraces as dining and drinking areas, using their existing seating licenses.

• Temporary changes to licensing laws will allow many more licensed premises, such as pubs and restaurants, to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises. Customers will be able to buy their drinks from a pub and consume them elsewhere, making social distancing easier.

These measures will give an immediate and much needed boost to many businesses, whilst supporting them to successfully reopen over the summer. Find more here.

Simple quick reference guide will help them in the event of a suspected or confirmed Coronavirus case

1. COVID-19 Flyer Business – aimed at any business / workplace
2. COVID-19 Flyer Accommodation – aimed at providers of accommodation
3. COVID-19 Poster Report – public facing poster for holiday makers staying in accommodation in Cornwall

It is critical that employers take steps to keep workers and visitors safe. By following the 5 steps for working safely, along with sector-specific guidance, employers can reduce the risk of co-workers having to self-isolate if a member of staff tests positive for COVID-19.

The NHS Test and Trace service does not change existing guidance that employees should work from home wherever possible.

It is vital that employers play their part by:

• making their workplaces as safe as possible (where working from home is not possible)
• requesting that workers self-isolate if they have been asked to do so
• supporting their workers when in isolation

Although this may seem disruptive for businesses, it is less disruptive than an outbreak of COVID-19 in the workplace, and far less disruptive than further social and economic restrictions.

The NHS Test and Trace service will support businesses and economic recovery by:

• providing free testing for anyone who has symptoms of coronavirus
• asking those that test positive and their close contacts to self-isolate to stop the spread of the virus in the workplace
• enabling the government to go further in safely lifting lockdown measures

Employers (and the self-employed) must continue to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees. They also have similar obligations in respect of other people, for example agency workers, contractors, volunteers, customers, suppliers and other visitors.

Find out more

Business events, conferences and events centres will be given the go ahead to reopen on 1 October adhering to social distancing. 

A number of pilots will take place at event venues across the country to plan for a return to large-scale events and test how best to implement social distancing practises. Details of these pilots will be finalised in partnership with the sector in the coming weeks.

Full guidance can be found here: https://bit.ly/VisitorEconomyGuidance

The UK government has introduced a new Kickstart Scheme in Great Britain, a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality 6-month work placements aimed at those aged 16 to 24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long term unemployment.

Funding available for each job will cover 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, plus the associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions.

Some employers may want to introduce their own internal testing programmes outside of the NHS Test and Trace service. This guidance will help them ensure that their testing programmes are as reliable and effective as possible. 

Further details can be found here

Business rates recovery is recommencing this month. However we are fully aware of the COVID19 impact on businesses and some may be struggling at this difficult time. If you are one of those businesses who are having financial difficulties and/or if you receive a reminder from us, then please do contact us on 0300 1234 161 so that we can work with you to discuss potential options such as extending payment periods. Whilst there is a need for the Council to collect as much money as possible, we will be as flexible as we possibly can and assist in preventing costly recovery processes for both you and us.  

To reduce social contact, the UK government has ordered certain businesses and venues to close. These include:

Businesses can now 'top-up' their existing Bounce Back Loans if they previously borrowed less than 25% of their turnover.

Further information and support can be found on the UK government support measures section of our Coronavirus Hub.

HM Revenue and Customs’s VAT deferral new payment scheme opened this week. The new scheme lets businesses pay deferred VAT payments due in interest-free instalments. The earlier a business joins, the more months they can spread their payments across. The scheme is open until and including 21 June 2021.

This guidance can be applied to any non-healthcare setting such as:

• workplaces
• offices
• waiting rooms
• hotel rooms
• student accommodation
• boarding schools

COVID-19 is mainly passed on by person-to-person spread between people who are in close contact with one another and by droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

It can also spread through contact with a surface or object that has the virus on it. Cleaning helps minimise the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

You must:

• identify what work activity or situations might cause transmission of the virus
• think about who could be at risk
• decide how likely it is that someone could be exposed
• act to remove the activity or situation, or if this isn’t possible, control the risk

Find out more 

Guidance for employers to help you understand the legal

obligations, in terms of workers who:

• continue to work
• have been placed on furlough as part of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)

Workers on furlough can take holiday without disrupting their furlough. The notice requirements for their employer requiring a worker to take leave or to refuse a request for leave continue to apply.

Find out more

As businesses in the UK return to on-site working and more people begin to use public transport, the Department for Transport has produced guidance for employers to help provide a safe return to work on the transport network including encouraging active travel and travel outside peak hours

1. Enable Workers to continue to work from home where possible
2. Help your workers to walk and cycle as much as they can - if employees can't cycle encourage private travel
3. Encourage employees to travel outside of peak hours - consider staggering arrival and departure times, discuss what timings work for them

Transport and Travel guidance: information for people using public transport or those in the transport industry

Traveling via public transport should be avoided if at all possible, if you have to travel on pubic transport please follow the guidance to do so safely. 

It is now mandatory for people to wear face coverings on Public Transport in England. This applies to trains, buses, trams, ferries and places. However, guidance still remains to advise people to work from home if you can and avoid public transport if possible. 

General Travel Guidance 

Air Travel Guidance 

This is a one-off payment of £1,000 to employers that have used the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for each furloughed employee that remains employed until the 31st January 2021. 

Who's eligible?

Employees that:

• earn at least £520 per month (above the Lower Earnings Limit) on average for November, December and January
• have been furloughed at any point and legitimately claimed for under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
• have been continuously employed up until at least 31‌‌‌ ‌January 2021.

Employers will be able to claim the bonus from February 2021 once accurate RTI data to 31st January has been received. More information will be available on the 31st July and full guidance will be published in the Autumn. 

You can now claim online for a grant for 80% of your furloughed employees' salaries up to a maximum of £2,500 per employee, per month. 

Before you make a claim make sure you have all the correct information. 

Check if you can claim for your employees' wages 
Work out how much you can claim and use the CJRS calculator 
Check out the step by step guide 
 

To make a claim, you will need:

• to be registered for PAYE online
• your UK bank account number and sort code
• your employer PAYE scheme reference number
• the number of employees being furloughed
• each employee’s National Insurance number
• each employee’s payroll or employee number (optional)
• the start date and end date of the claim
• the full amount you’re claiming for including employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum pension contributions
• your phone number
• contact name

You also need to provide either:

• your name (or the employer’s name if you’re an agent)
• your Corporation Tax unique taxpayer reference
• your Self Assessment unique taxpayer reference
• your company registration number

• Complete the application in one session - there are no 'do overs'.
• Please note that inactivity on the application for 15 minutes logs you off. 
• Take a screenshot of the confirmation page for your records as there will be no email confirmation.
• Retain all records and calculations for your reference. 

After you have made a claim 

• keep a note or a print-out of your claim reference number – you won’t receive a confirmation SMS or email
• retain all records and calculations for your claims, in case we need to contact you about them
• expect to receive the funds six working days after you apply, provided your claim matches records that we hold for your PAYE scheme – please do not contact us before this time
• to receive payment by 30‌‌ April, you will need to complete an application by 22‌‌ April
• please ask your furloughed employees not to contact us directly – we will not be able to provide them with any information on individual claims.

Be vigilant to scams
In response to recent scams offering spurious financial support or tax refunds, HMRC has published information and guidance including: 
 
•    how to recognise genuine HMRC contact;
•    how to avoid and report scams; and
•    examples of phishing emails and bogus HMRC contact.

The government has launched a new calculator to help employers with their next CJRS claims. 

Employers can use the calculator to work out how much they have to pay their furloughed and flexibly furloughed employees, how much they can claim for employer National Insurance contributions and pension contributions and how much they can claim back.

You can access the new job retention calculator here: https://bit.ly/CJRSCalculator

Please note that the calculator will be updated to reflect changes to the scheme over the coming months. 

In addition, employers can now also download a template if you're claiming for 100 or more employees through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (for claims on or after 1 July 2020).

The UK government has updated guidance to reflect recent changes to the CJRS. From 1 September, the UK government will pay 70% and employers will pay 10% of employees’ wages for the time they are being furloughed. Employers will also continue to pay their National Insurance and pension contributions. The scheme ends on 31 October 2020. 

Today, the UK government announced that it will significantly increase the generosity and reach of its winter support schemes to ensure livelihoods and jobs across the UK continue to be protected in the difficult months to come, supporting jobs and helping to contain the virus.

Highlights from the announcement included:

Take a look at the BCC's response.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) is set to end on 31 October 2020 and in recognising the ongoing impact Coronavirus is having on businesses, the UK government announced the launch of the Job Support Scheme (JSS) to take affect from 1 November 2020 to last for 6 months. The JSS applies to current staff whether previously been on furlough or not and requires them to be retained on shorter hours by agreement.

The criteria for this scheme significantly differs from the CJRS and on 22 October 2020 the UK government announced new JSS Open and JSS Closed schemes.

JSS Open will help reduce the financial cost to the employer in employing employees who would otherwise be at risk of redundancies and thus increasing the cost to the UK government. It is aimed at the protection of viable jobs in businesses who can operate safely but are facing lower demand over the winter period due to Coronavirus to avoid mass redundancies.

JSS Closed will apply where the employer has been legally required to close the premises as a direct result of Coronavirus restrictions set by one or more of the four UK governments.

• The rules of the scheme are changing from 1 J‌ul‌y.

• From 1 July, you’ll have the flexibility to bring previously furloughed employees back to work part time, you can decide the hours and shift patterns they work to suit the needs of your business – you’ll pay their wages for the time they’re in work and can apply for a scheme grant to cover any of their normal hours they are still furloughed for.
• Also, for periods starting on or after the 1 J‌ul‌y, the maximum number of employees you can claim for in any period cannot be higher than the maximum number you have claimed for in a previous period. For example, if your highest single claim for periods up to 30 J‌un‌e was for 100 people, you can’t claim for more than this number in later periods.
• From 1 Au‌gu‌st, you will need to contribute towards the wage costs of your furloughed employees until the scheme ends on 31 Oc‌to‌be‌r.

• in June and July, the government will pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500 as well as employer National Insurance (ER NICs) and pension contributions for the hours the employee doesn’t work – employers will have to pay employees for the hours they work
• in August, the government will continue to pay 80% of wages up to a cap of £2,500 but employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions – for the average claim, this represents 5% of the gross employment costs that they would have incurred if the employee had not been furloughed
• in September, the government will pay 70% of wages up to a cap of £2,187.50 for the hours the employee does not work – employers will pay ER NICs, pension contributions and 10% of wages to make up 80% of the total up to a cap of £2,500
• in October, the government will pay 60% of wages up to a cap of £1,875 for the hours the employee does not work – employers will pay ER NICs, pension contributions and 20% of wages to make up 80% of the total up to a cap of £2,500
• the cap on the furlough grant will be proportional to the hours not worked.

You can claim for furloughed employees that were employed on 19 March 2020 and who were on your PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. You must also have submitted a Real Time Information (RTI) to HMRC before the same date.

If you had employees that were employed on 28 February 2020 but not on 19 March 2020, please see the section below on employees who were made redundant or stopped working for you after 28 February 2020.

If your employee has more than one job:

If your employee has more than one employer they can be furloughed for each job. Each job is separate, and the cap applies to each employer individually.

Employees can be furloughed in one job and receive a furloughed payment but continue working for another employer and receive their normal wages.

If you employ apprentices: 

Apprentices can be furloughed in the same way as other employees and they can continue to train whist on furlough.

However, you must pay your Apprentices at least the Apprenticeship Minimum Wage/National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage (AMW/NLW/NMW) as appropriate for all the time they spend training. This means that for time spent training you must cover any shortfall between the amount you can claim for their wages through this scheme and their appropriate minimum wage.