PO Box 16685
Birmingham
B2 2LX
The Redundancy Payments helpline is open 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm Monday to Thursday, and 9am to 1pm on Friday. Contact about claims for redundancy, loss of notice pay, holiday pay, arrears of wages, protective award payments and lost pension contributions.
Online Claims Service: https://www.gov.uk/claim-redundancy
Four new implementation committees focusing on health, public sector preparedness, economy and international response, will feed into a new daily C-19 meeting, which will be chaired by the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister will continue to chair regular UK COBR meetings to take strategic decisions and review overall progress in the campaign to contain, delay and mitigate coronavirus. The additional daily C-19 meeting of key ministers and officials will monitor progress and refine the measures agreed by COBR. The chairs of the implementation committees – the Chancellor, the Health Secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Foreign Secretary – will attend the daily C-19 meeting.
The Prime Minister has been clear that countering this pandemic will require significant national effort from government, businesses, charities, communities and citizens across the UK. The implementation committees will regularly meet with key representatives from relevant sectors to inform their decision making.
Recognising coronavirus presents unique challenges economically, internationally and across a wide range of sectors, the four implementation committees are:
Civil servants and the UK’s leading experts will continue to support the government’s efforts and contribute to our approach, which is led by the best scientific advice.
Urgent inspections where specific concerns have been raised can still go ahead. This will allow us to prioritise the immediate safety of children where necessary.
As far as we are able, we will continue to undertake our important regulatory work to help maintain social care provision for the most vulnerable children, and the registration of vital childcare services. We will operate as a proportionate and responsible regulator, in what we know are challenging times, focused on children’s safeguarding and well being.
All of our Ofsted Inspectors – those serving headteachers who undertake inspections on our behalf – have returned to their schools. We are in daily contact with the Department for Education to discuss the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact across education and social care.
Amanda Spielman, HMCI, said:
I’m grateful for the Secretary of State’s permission to suspend routine inspections. It’s clearly the right thing to do when teachers and social workers are under pressure as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. We all need to support them in their work.
We will monitor what’s happening across education and social care and we will reserve the right to inspect where we believe the safety of children could be at risk, or we have other serious concerns. We will also continue to register and regulate social care providers, childminders and nurseries, so that these vital services can continue to support children and their families.
We have been advised by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who arrange our War Pension Scheme/Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) medical examinations for us, that they have taken the decision to cancel all planned examinations for a period of up to 3 months from 17 March 2020. This is because of action being taken to limit the spread of the Coronavirus. All veterans with dates for medical examinations during this period will be contacted direct by the DWP’s Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA).
Veterans UK is now reviewing the impact of this decision on how individual War Pension and AFCS claims can be progressed when a medical examination is not possible and more information will be issued to those affected in due course. There is no need to contact the Veterans UK helpline at the moment.
It is always our aim to reach decisions on claims as quickly as possible. However, we must also balance this with the risks of spreading the Coronavirus to veterans, many of whom may be in groups at higher risk from the virus.
We would like to thank everyone for their understanding during this unprecedented time.
Ofsted is to temporarily suspend routine inspections of schools, colleges, early years settings, children’s social care providers and local authorities to reduce the burden on staff who are providing vital services to the nation in response to coronavirus.
The current medical and scientific advice is for schools and other educational establishments to stay open. If this changes and the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Adviser say closing schools, colleges, and early years settings is in the best interests of children and teachers the Department will take that step.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:
I recognise that teachers are doing everything they can to support the children in their care and help make sure that key workers can continue going to work. Teachers are on the frontline of our national effort.
We are following the advice of our medical and scientific community every step of the way. The Chief Medical Officer has said the impact of closing schools on children’s education will be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be.
Given the pressures on our school leaders and their staff, it is only right that Ofsted temporarily suspends its routine inspection timetable. This will help schools to focus on their core functions at a difficult time.
The Secretary of State will write to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman to allow her to suspend routine inspections, although urgent inspections where specific concerns have been raised can still go ahead.
The Secretary of State is working with representatives of school leaders to develop a range of measures to help them stay open, and this is an important part of that plan.