England has once again moved into a full national lockdown.

The lockdown restrictions will be in place for a minimum of seven weeks with the next review due to take place on 15 February. The Government hopes to offer the first dose of the vaccine to the most at-risk groups during this period, including those over the age of 70 and those classed as clinically extremely vulnerable.

The Rules

You must stay at home and only go out for a limited number of reasons, including:

• To work where it is not reasonably possible to work from home
• To shop for basic necessities for you or a vulnerable person
• To exercise with your household/support bubble. You can exercise with one other person from outside your household/support bubble but this should be limited to once per day
• To meet your support or childcare bubble
• To seek medical assistance or to escape harm (including domestic abuse)
• To attend education or childcare (NB nurseries remain open but schools are only open to vulnerable children and children of key workers

You should not meet socially with anyone who is not in your household or support bubble. When exercising, you should remain within your local area.

There are currently no restrictions on moving home during the lockdown, though people from outside your household or support bubble should not help with the move unless necessary. This means that residents that are due to move into one of your almshouses can continue to do so. If you’re currently looking to fill a vacancy, you will need to conduct any interviews by video or teleconference. When a resident moves in, they should only be greeted by one member of staff or trustee and social distancing should be maintained at all times.  

Full details on the lockdown can be found at:
www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home. 

Restrictions also continue to apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Details on these restrictions can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus.

Shielding

Those who are classed as clinically extremely vulnerable will be sent a letter by their GP shortly with details on action they should take and support that is available to them. Those who are clinically extremely vulnerable should not attend work and limit their exposure to other people. They should limit their time outside their homes to medical appointments and exercises only.

Please note that whilst older people are more at risk of severe illness if they contract Covid-19, old age itself does not class someone as clinically extremely vulnerable. To find out more about who is classed as clinically extremely vulnerable, visit:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19#cev

What you should be doing?

The new lockdown is very similar to that in March last year and your charity should revert to the processes it had in place at that time. This could include:

• Closing common rooms and ensuring that outdoor furniture is adequately spaced apart to allow for social distancing
• Regular cleaning of high touchpoint areas, such as entrance halls and stairwells (particularly handrails)
• Closing guest rooms
• Replacing warden visits with regular phone calls
• Contacting next of kin and local volunteer groups to ensure residents are getting shopping delivered
• Developing a rota for communal facilities such as laundries and ensuring that they are cleaned on a more frequent basis. Provide hand sanitiser and cleaning wipes for residents to use whilst in these areas
• Providing residents with puzzles, games and details of exercises they can do within their own homes to keep them healthy and occupied
• Developing and advising residents of the process they should follow if they believe they have contracted Cobid-19 and/or are hospitalised. You may wish to ask residents to update their next of kin details

The Government has developed guidance for managers of supported living. Although some of the guidance will not be relevant to almshouse charities, it nonetheless provides guidance on cleaning, PPE, managing outbreaks, and visitors and support bubbles. The guidance can be found at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/supported-living-services-during-coronavirus-covid-19/covid-19-guidance-for-supported-living.

Don’t forget, the Almshouse Association offers an online course on infection prevention and control. You may wish to ask your staff to complete this course in the coming days. If your charity requires more course credits (you will need one credit per person to take the course), please contact us at admin@almshouses.org. The course can be found at:
www.almshouses.org/training-seminars/online-training-sessions/

Some almshouse charities may choose to treat their residents as one household and ‘close the gates’. Before taking this approach, you must get the agreement of all residents that this is what they would like to do. Residents may prefer to form support bubbles with other households instead.

If you believe a resident is breaking the lockdown rules, you should speak to the resident and remind them of the restrictions and the impact their behaviour could have on their neighbours. This should be followed up with a written warning if they continue to break the rules. In extreme circumstances (e.g. if a resident regularly has multiple guests), you may wish to contact the police.

Posted 5 January 21

This weekend the Government announced that London and part of the South East would enter new Tier 4 restrictions and the rules for Christmas celebrations would be limited for the whole of England.

Although this will have come as a major disappointment to trustees, staff and residents alike, the new restrictions have been put in place to prevent the transmission of a new, mutated form of the virus.

The new variant of Covid-19 has spread rapidly over the past few weeks. Scientists have discovered that it is transmitted more easily but there is no indication at this stage that it is more likely to cause a serious outcome (i.e. ending up in hospital or death). That said, as many of our members provide homes for older people and those more likely to suffer from complications from the disease, it is important that you are familiar with the rules and can help your residents to stick to them.

Tiers 1-3

For areas in these tiers, the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with two other households (‘Christmas bubble’) will now be limited to Christmas day only. The Government’s scientific advisers have urged caution around this, however, and it would be better to keep your interactions with other households to an absolute minimum.

The rules around support bubbles still apply and you should familiarise yourself with the rules that apply to the tier your area is in.

https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-local-restrictions?priority-taxon=774cee22-d896-44c1-a611-e3109cce8eae

Tier 4

These restrictions apply in London (all borough and the City of London), Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Kent, Surrey (excluding Waverley), Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth, Rother, Hastings, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, Luton, Peterborough, Hertfordshire, and Essex (excluding Colchester, Uttlesford and Tendring).

In short, Tier 4 restrictions are effectively a lockdown. You cannot leave or be outside of the place you are living unless you have a reasonable excuse. You should not leave the Tier 4 area or travel abroad. You cannot meet other people indoors, including over the Christmas period, unless you live with them or they are part of your support bubble. Outdoors, you can only meet one person from another household. Full details on the Tier 4 rules can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-4-stay-at-home?priority-taxon=774cee22-d896-44c1-a611-e3109cce8eae.

These new rules are likely to be quite upsetting for your residents, who have possibly been looking forward to spending time with their friends and relatives over the festive period. We would recommend calling your residents to make sure they are ok and to offer any support they might need in the coming days. This might include putting them in touch with relevant services (e.g. community voluntary groups, Age UK, social services) or offering to help them yourselves with shopping and other tasks to enable them to minimise their contact with others.

It is worth remembering, however, that almshouses are for independent living and, if you choose to implement stricter rules for your almshouses, you should only do this with the prior agreement of the residents. Residents may choose to spend time in their support bubbles or attend a communal worship service over the festive period as allowed under the rules, but there will naturally be an increased risk in transmitting the virus. You should therefore consider closing any communal lounges, having a rota in place for communal laundries, and implementing a more frequent cleaning regime in communal spaces (e.g. laundries, corridors etc). Guest rooms should be closed.

At this stage it is not known how long these rules will be in place or if any other areas in England will be put into Tier 4. The next review of the tiers will take place on 30 December.

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Different rules apply in the other nations of the UK. These are:

• Wales – Wales has today entered ‘alert level 4’, which is broadly similar to the Tier 4 restrictions in place in England. The main difference is that up to two households can form a ‘Christmas bubble’ for Christmas day only. A full breakdown of the rules can be found at: https://gov.wales/alert-level-4

• Scotland – Scotland also operate a tiered system of restrictions and you should check which tier your area is in. Over Christmas, the Scottish government advises you to spend the festive period with your household only but a Christmas bubble of up to 8 people from 3 households (plus children under the age of 12 from 3 households) can be formed. Full details can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-protection-levels/

• Northern Ireland – Over the festive period, you can form a Christmas bubble with people from up to two other households and meet them on one day between 23 and 27 December. From 26 December, the NI government will impose stricter restrictions for 6 weeks. Full details can be found at: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/coronavirus-covid-19-regulations-guidance-what-restrictions-mean-you

Posted 21 December 20

The Government has announced that charitable companies and Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs) can continue to hold AGMs and other member meetings virtually until 30^th March 2021.

For all other charity structures, members should consult their governing documents for guidance on how meetings can be held. At this difficult time it would be best to consult your governing documents regarding allowing virtual or telephone meetings where physical meetings are not possible. If your charity’s governing document does not allow for this, the Charity Commission suggests amending the document to allow for meetings to be held in this way. This is considered an administrative change and simply requires trustees to take a resolution at a quorate trustee meeting and advising the Charity Commission of these changes.  

Wherever possible, it is still hoped that members will be able to submit their annual returns online. However, if Trustees have an imminent deadline and believe they are likely to miss it, you should send an email to filingextension@charitycommission.gov.uk with your charity name and registration number.

Full guidance can be found here.

Posted 16 December 20

Guidance has been published regarding Christmas bubbles which can be formed between December 23^rd and 27^th.

The Government announced that three households can meet during this period to celebrate Christmas. The following points are also worth highlighting:

• You can only be in one Christmas bubble and cannot change your Christmas bubble
• You can travel between tiers and UK nations for the purposes of meeting your Christmas bubble
• You can only meet your Christmas bubble in private homes or in your garden, places of worship, or public outdoor spaces
• You can continue to meet people who are not in your Christmas bubble, outside your home, according to the rules in the tier where you are staying
• You cannot meet someone in a private dwelling who is not part of your household or Christmas bubble
• You must not form a Christmas bubble if you have coronavirus symptoms or are self-isolating.
• Existing support bubbles count as one household towards the three-household limit
• If someone is in your Christmas bubble, you can visit each other’s homes and stay overnight, including in private rented accommodation. You can also go to a place of worship together, or meet in public outdoor spaces. You cannot meet your Christmas bubble in any other indoor setting, such as a pub, hotel, shop, theatre, or restaurant.
• You may form a different Christmas bubble from the people you live with normally. If you and the people you are living with want to be in different Christmas bubbles, you can choose to stay somewhere else with different people for this period and form a Christmas bubble with that household and one other household (this will count as three households) – guidance here
• The guidance notes that “forming a bubble if you are vulnerable or clinically extremely vulnerable carries additional risks – see advice for clinically vulnerable people”

Posted 11 December 20