We wanted to keep you updated about the recent changes in legislation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and how this may affect you.

On the 22nd February, the cabinet office announced there will be some changes to COVID laws which came into effect from the 24th February. The Prime Minister has outlined the plan for ‘Living with COVID-19’ with hopes to transition back to normality as soon as possible. This plan is under constant review, and we may expect some more changes in the coming weeks/months. These changes also include changes to COVID testing in social-care.

New COVID regulations announced by the government:

• You will not be legally required to self-isolate after testing positive for coronavirus, but it is advised that you do. Workers are also not required to tell their employer if they need to self-isolate.
• You will not have to take daily tests or be legally required to self-isolate following contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
• The Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme will end. If you were told to self-isolate before 24 February, you can still make a claim up to 6 April

How is testing changing in England?

• Free lateral flow tests (LFTs) won’t be available after 1 April, except for the over-75s and over-12s with weakened immune systems.
• Everyone else will have to buy a test from pharmacists or other retailers. Boots states they will start selling single LFTs online for £5.99, or four for £17, ahead of the 1 April deadline.
• Free PCR tests won’t be available to people with COVID symptoms from April either, except for a small number of at-risk groups, with details to be announced in March.
• Free testing will remain for social care workers with COVID symptoms.

The affects ‘Living with COVID’ will have on the Health & Social Care sector:

Testing currently still remains free for all social care workers with coronavirus symptoms. However, although regular asymptomatic testing is strongly advised daily before attending shifts, staff will be required to purchase these tests themselves and test at home. This could eventually end up costing social care workers a small fortune. The government has announced that residents will still receive in house testing, and advise they should be tested once a month through a PCR test.

Although it is now not a legal requirement to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19, it is strongly advised that staff do self-isolate after testing positive due to the nature of the job, and being in close contact with vulnerable individuals.

For more information, click here to read more.

If you would like to discuss the above, or about how we can collaborate, please let us know. To get in touch, email [email protected] or call us on 03305 552233.

As a specialist, family-run recruitment business, we provide a proactive and consultative approach to recruitment within Social Care. We help organisations to target issues such as continuity of staffing, reducing spend where you have a high volume of agency usage and supporting those who have specific talent requirements or are in hard to fill locations. We can help with any immediate staffing requirements or longer-term recruitment projects to ultimately save you time and money on agency spend.

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