Latest Volunteering Covid Updates from DCMS
Self-isolation for fully vaccinated adults was eased on 16 August
Fully vaccinated individuals and those under 18 and 6 months will no longer need to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19. This applies both to household and non-household contacts of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, and those who are participating in clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine are also exempt.
Guidance pages are being updated in line with NHS Test and Trace in the workplace guidance.
HSE guidance
HSE is updating its existing web pages around volunteering to provide more information about the application of health and safety law to voluntary activities. The guidance will be quite general although it will include some illustrative examples and links to help with risk assessments and particular industries/health and safety topics. The guidance is not specific to COVID.
The Volunteering Guidance Reference Group have been contacted to provide feedback.
COVID-19: parking concessions for health, care and volunteer workers
During the COVID-19 emergency response period, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government reached an agreement with the Local Government Association that local councils in England would voluntarily offer free car parking to all NHS workers, social care staff and NHS volunteer responders. MHCLG has published an update on the end of this scheme.
Self Isolation support framework
The self-isolation support framework has now been published: Providing practical support for people self-isolating. This is a guide for both LAs and VCS organisations that can support LAs to deliver practical support to people self-isolating. Please share with your contacts and networks who support people to self-isolate.
Youth vaccines toolkit
The Cabinet Office has created a Youth Vaccines Toolkit which can be downloaded below for use by organisations who have a higher than average number of younger people in their workforces. It is aimed to help those organisations tackle misinformation, and set out the benefits of the vaccine and messaging in community languages.