• Instead of self-isolating, those who are double jabbed and under 18s identified as close contacts of positive COVID-19 cases are advised to get a free PCR test as soon as possible
• Protection from remarkable vaccine rollout allows more freedoms, with over three quarters of adults now double jabbed

From Monday 16 August, people who are double jabbed or aged under 18 will no longer be legally required to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case. The change was announced last month, as part of step 4 of the Government’s COVID-19 roadmap. With 75% of people having received both doses of the vaccine, the majority of adults will no longer need to self-isolate if they are contacts.

These changes can be made next week as a result of the remarkable success of the UK’s vaccine programme, with over three quarters of UK adults now double jabbed. The latest data from Public Health England and Cambridge University shows that around 60,000 deaths, 22 million infections and 66,900 hospitalisations have been prevented by the vaccines.

As of Monday, double jabbed individuals and under 18s who are identified as close contacts by NHS Test and Trace will be advised to take a PCR test as soon as possible to check if they have the virus and for variants of concern. People can order a PCR home test online or by calling 119, or going to a test site.

As double jabbed people identified as close contacts are still at risk of being infected, people are advised to consider other precautions such as wearing a face covering in enclosed spaces, and limit contact with other people, especially with anyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable. They will not be required to self-isolate while they wait for the results of the PCR test.

Double vaccinated adults will no longer be required to self-isolate from Monday, as long as they received their final dose of an MHRA-approved vaccine in the UK vaccination programme at least 14 days prior to contact with a positive case.

Anyone who tests positive following the PCR test will still be legally required to self-isolate, irrespective of their vaccination status or age in order to break onwards chains of transmission. Meanwhile anyone who develops COVID-19 symptoms should self-isolate and get a PCR test, and remain in isolation until the result comes back.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said:

Asking the close contacts of people with COVID-19 to self-isolate has played a critical role in helping us get this virus under control, and millions of people across the UK have made enormous sacrifices by doing this. Every single one of these sacrifices has helped us protect the NHS and save lives.

Getting two doses of a vaccine has tipped the odds in our favour and allowed us to safely reclaim our lost freedoms, and from Monday we can take another huge step back towards our normal lives by removing self-isolation requirements for double jabbed people who are contacts of people with COVID-19. Double jabbed people who test positive will still need to self-isolate.

Vaccines are what will bring this pandemic to an end – the wall of defence provided by the rollout is allowing us to get even closer to normal life. If you haven’t already, please make sure you come forward for your jab at the earliest opportunity.

The vaccine previously allowed critical workers to leave self-isolation to ensure vital services continued. The changes introduced on 16 August will mean that, with some additional precautions for health and care settings, fully vaccinated contacts will routinely be able to attend work if they do not have symptoms.

Regular testing remains critical to controlling the virus as restrictions ease. Anyone with symptoms should take a PCR test to find out if they have the virus and to allow new variants to be detected. Alongside PCR testing for anyone with symptoms or who is a close contact, everyone in England is encouraged to take up the government’s offer of free, twice weekly rapid testing to find additional cases among people who do not have symptoms.

UK Health Security Agency Chief Executive (UKHSA), Dr Jenny Harries said:

Thanks to the huge success of the vaccine programme, we are able to ease self-isolation requirements for double jabbed people and under 18s. It is important that close contacts continue to come forward for a PCR test, in order to detect the virus and variants of concern.

Although two doses of vaccine will greatly reduce your own risk of becoming unwell with Covid-19, it is still possible to contract the virus and pass it to others. So if you develop symptoms at any time – vaccinated or not – you should get a test and be very careful in your contact with others until you have received a negative test result

Removing self-isolation for under 18s comes ahead of thousands of pupils and students returning to school and college for the autumn term, and is crucial step to reduce disruption to education and keep children in the classroom.

In line with Step 4, ‘bubbles’ will end for all children under 18, social distancing will no longer be necessary, and schools will not need to stagger start and finish times. Two onsite tests should be taken by each secondary school and college student on return, followed by twice weekly testing at home. The Government will review testing requirements by the end of September. 

Health and care workers

From Monday, most double vaccinated health and social care staff who are close contacts of cases will be able to routinely return to work, provided they have had a negative PCR test. Daily LFD tests will need to be taken for 10 days as a precaution.

Staff working with clinically extremely vulnerable patients or service users will need a risk assessment to be carried out by a designated person in the workplace before they return to work.

Workplace daily contact testing scheme

The Workplace Daily Contact Testing scheme will continue, with testing sites offering daily testing as an alternative to self-isolation for close contacts who are not double jabbed. Over 700 sites are now in operation across critical sectors, and over 1 million test kits have been distributed.

NHS COVID-19 app

Updates will be made to the COVID-19 app to align with the changing requirements to self-isolation. App users identified as a close contact who confirm that they are double vaccinated or under 18 not need to self-isolate and will be given advice to book a PCR test.

If someone is called by NHS Test and Trace and told they are a contact, they will be asked their age and their vaccination status. If using the NHS COVID-19 app, people will be asked to self-declare if they are under 18 or double vaccinated.

Notes to editors

• The following groups of people identified as close contacts will no longer be required to self-isolate. If their self-isolation period began before 16 August and was due to end after 16 August, they will be able to leave self-isolation on 16 August.
• Double vaccinated adults: those who received their final dose of an MHRA-approved vaccine in the UK vaccination programme, at least 14 days prior to contact with a positive case
• Children and young people: those under the age of 18 years. Those turning 18 will be treated in the same way as children until the age of 18 years and 6 months, to allow them time to get vaccinated.
• Clinical trial participants: those who have taken part in – or are currently taking part in – an MHRA approved Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial. Those who received their final dose of an MHRA-approved vaccine in the UK vaccination programme, at least 14 days prior to contact with a positive case.
• Medical exemptions: those who can evidence that they cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.
• As with double vaccinated adults, children under 5 who are close contacts of a positive case will instead be advised to take a PCR test. If the PCR test is positive they will need to self-isolate, as any other positive case.
• Children who are aged under 5 years old who are identified as close contacts would only be advised to take a PCR test if the positive case is in their own household.

• Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng visited Brunel University Business School to highlight the government’s Help to Grow: Management scheme
• Courses at Brunel and other business schools will take entrepreneurs and senior managers through an executive development programme to level up their business
• Kwasi Kwarteng describes Help to Grow: Management as a fantastic scheme to equip ambitious business leaders with the tools to take their business to the next level

Today (11 August) Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng visited Brunel University Business School to meet businesses enrolled on the government’s new Help to Grow: Management course, helping them to level up the way they do business.

The Business Secretary joined a session with local business owners and expert business lecturers to learn more about the value of the programme and the opportunities available to these businesses.

Brunel is one of several leading business schools across the UK offering the government-backed management course to ambitious entrepreneurs.

The Help to Grow: Management programme combines a practical curriculum with 1:1 support from a business mentor, peer-learning sessions and an alumni network. It helps business leaders develop their strategic skills, create jobs and boost their business performance.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said:

UK businesses are global leaders in creativity and innovation, and Government is here to support SMEs to seize every opportunity to grow.

Help to Grow: Management is a fantastic scheme to equip ambitious business leaders with the tools to take their business to the next level, helping create an even more high-productivity, high-wage economy we build back better from the pandemic.

Dean of Brunel Business School Professor Jane Hendy said:

At Brunel Business School, we are pleased to once again be part of national efforts to support small and medium-sized businesses looking to boost their performance, resilience and long-term growth as they recover from the effects of the pandemic.

This programme drew on ground-breaking business theory and cutting-edge business know-how to enabling CEOs, directors and managers in SMEs to develop their business for growth.

Furthering our commitment to support local businesses, we’re here to help businesses keep going, keep gaining and keep growing.

Help to Grow: Management offers a 12 week-programme delivered by leading business schools across the UK and accredited by the Small Business Charter.

Designed to be manageable alongside full-time work, this programme will support small business leaders with key modules covering financial management, innovation and digital adoption. By the end of the programme participants will develop a tailored business growth plan to lead their business to its full potential.

Chartered Association of Business Schools CEO Anne Kiem OBE said:

As we continue to grapple with the coronavirus crisis it is also essential we look long term to ensure small businesses are supported to build resilience, survival and growth.

Business schools can provide the expertise and knowledge all business owners and directors need to continue to thrive in uncertain times.

Course participant Rikesh Kothari, Director of Prowise Healthcare Ltd, said:

I’m excited to have secured a place on the programme at Brunel as I believe it will enhance my management and strategic capabilities. I am attracted by the course modules, particularly those on innovation and digital adoption, and I believe the case study on growth and expansion will help me take my business to the next level.

I am also looking forward to connecting with other businesses and other like-minded people in our industry for further expansion.

A total of 30,000 places are available over three years. The programme is 90% subsidised by government – costing only £750 to the business.

Register for the Help to Grow: Management scheme

Notes to editors

• UK businesses from any sector that have been operating for more than one year, with between 5 to 249 employees are eligible to enrol.
• The participant should be a decision maker or member of the senior management team within the business e.g. a Chief Executive or Finance Director.
• List of participating business schools
• Charities are not eligible as the scheme is designed to support commercial enterprises.

Home builders across England can today (11 August 2021) bid for their share of a £150 million package by offering plots for sale as First Homes, the flagship government scheme aimed at first-time buyers and key workers.

House builders are being invited to work with the government to deliver First Homes across the country in the coming months, with the aim of delivering 1,500 homes by March 2023.

First Homes helps local first-time buyers and key workers onto the property ladder by offering homes at a discount of at least 30% compared to the market price. The same percentage will then be passed on with the sale of the property to future first-time buyers. This means homes will always be sold below market value – benefitting local communities and families for generations to come.

The contract award will give housebuilders the opportunity to engage with local councils and mortgage providers, understand the expected level of customer demand and to learn more about the delivery process ahead of the full roll out through planning.

Today’s package follows the initial introduction of First Homes earlier this summer, where local sites were opened up in Bolsover, East Midlands, developed by Keepmoat Homes, and Cannock, West Midlands, developed by Vistry Partnerships.

Leeds Building Society recently received the first mortgage application for a First Homes property as more homes come onto the market.

Housing Secretary RT Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

It is great to see the First Homes scheme gaining momentum and I am happy to invite house builders to deliver this flagship house building programme across the country.

Lenders have already seen the first mortgage applications come in as more homes come onto the market. It will support local communities and give local people a greater chance of getting on the housing ladder and having a place which they can call their own.

Just as importantly, homebuilders of all shapes and sizes will now be able to benefit from this scheme while helping first-time buyers and key workers onto the property ladder.

Peter Freeman, Chair of Homes England said:

The Early Delivery Programme is a great opportunity for housebuilders, housing associations and the wider development sector to get to grips with First Homes. We look forward to working with partners to help aspiring homeowners realise their ambitions and own their own home.

Councils will also be able to prioritise the homes for keyworkers such as nurses and teachers who have been looking to get on the housing ladder while supporting their community throughout the pandemic.

More information for house builders on the invitation to tender (ITT) is available on Procontract.

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough(1) £311,836 • Working with six local and two national partners including Suzy Lamplugh Trust and Respect, the funding will enable a new project to provide much needed support to prevent people from committing domestic abuse and stalking offences, whilst ensuring victims continue to receive professional help.
• Funding will also extend the number of people who can attend the Healthy Relationships Programme run by probation services.
• It will further help the development of a multi-agency Stalking Intervention Project with a police officer, specialist IDVA and Consultant Forensic Psychologist. Cheshire (1) £538,100 • Introduction of the ‘Best of Me’ model which offers an early intervention approach to tackling perpetrator behaviours before these become pathologised or embedded.
• A school-based awareness programme will also raise issues around healthy and unhealthy relationships. Cleveland (1) £200,333.33 • Providing direct support to perpetrators that have a range of complex needs and issues contributing to their offending, and present barriers to behaviour change.
• Using a ‘Team around the Couple’ trauma-informed, holistic and systems-based approach, the proposed model will build on and scale up the successful work of the area’s Multi-Agency Tasking and Co-ordination process. Cumbria (1) £200,352 • Piloting a programme developed to provide specific, bespoke interventions for those identified as being high risk / high harm, prolific and repeat perpetrators.
• The programme will work alongside the existing work of the Turning the Spotlight project which will sit within a suite of interventions to address the needs of perpetrators posing all levels of risk across Cumbria. Derbyshire (1) £659,488.21 • A set of programmes focusing on education work with young people at risk of perpetration, interventions with young perpetrators of abuse on their parents, and carers and whole family group work. Dorset (1) £200,185 • Introduction of the Up2U Family Practice Model which would support perpetrators and their families at an earlier stage than the current provision and reduce the number of incidents at all risk levels.
• They will also train front line practitioners to identify behaviours and implement strategies to intervene. Durham (1) £321,200 • Projects will be aimed at reducing risk factors associated with current aggressive behaviour.
• They will further look to support families where children or young people aged between 8 and 18 are abusive or violent towards the people close to them, particularly their parents or carers. Dyfed Powys (1) £417,509 • Expanding the scope of the ‘Break 4 Change’ programme which focuses on child to parent abuse.
• Expanding the Inspiring Families programme, which takes a holistic approach to addressing a family’s individual needs.
• Region-wide delivery of Respect’s Working with Perpetrators programme. Essex (1) £213,000 • Increase the geographic reach of existing programmes and increase the age range of individuals supported through the Change Hub perpetrator service.
• Run a targeted media campaign to tackle escalation of harmful behaviour. Greater Manchester (2) £1,516,549 • Commission the charity Talk, Listen, Change to deliver work with young perpetrators of DA across Greater Manchester. Programmes cover interventions for both child to parent abuse and intimate partner abuse.
• Facilitate the provision of adult-focused domestic abuse perpetrator interventions across the area. Hampshire (2) £495,471 • Piloting of initiatives to help build the evidence base of what works when tackling DA and Adolescent to Parent Violence amongst children and young people across multiple Local Authority areas.
• This includes adapting the Caring Dads programme, Great Behaviour Breakdown pilot, enhancing one to one support for existing adult interventions and Yellow Door Systemic Family Therapy. Hertfordshire (1) £599,185 • Delivery of Change Plus, a 12-hour domestic abuse awareness course and early intervention project that helps to enable perpetrators of abuse to recognise their behaviour is abusive.
• Delivery of For Baby’s Sake, a holistic, whole family domestic abuse programme starting during pregnancy. Humberside (1) £200,000 • Strengthen service provision for children and young people in the context of child to parent abuse by delivering through a new partnership between Humberside’s four unitary authorities.
• The delivery model will facilitate a whole-system approach to ensure whole family’s needs are met. Kent (1) £378,967 • Introduction of dedicated one to one programmes for both DA and stalking perpetrators and a group-based programme for a separate cohort of DA perpetrators. Lancashire (1) £345,319 • Introduction of the Parachute programme, a 10-week programme for teenagers having difficulty managing conflict in their relationships.
• Perpetrator support work in schools including Healthy Relationships education, delivered by professionals as part of the sex education requirement of schools.
• Piloting a daily helpline/live-chat function from 3-8pm for follow-up advice and guidance. Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (London) (3) £1,563,547 • A project aiming to improve responses to perpetrators of domestic abuse in families being supported by children’s social care via a co-ordinated multi-agency response.
• Multi-faceted support for perpetrators from BAME communities and partnering with the organisation RISE to deliver a number of programmes as part of an intersectional approach that takes account of victim and perpetrator identities.
• Investment within social care teams to equip the partnership to improve engagement with perpetrators at an earlier point in order to maximise the behaviour change opportunities and reduce harm. Merseyside (1) £620,393 • Establishment of a dedicated team responding to the complex support needs of referred domestic abuse perpetrators. This will focus on health and social care needs, emotional wellbeing, housing, drugs and alcohol recovery and debt advice.
• A three-part programme focusing on non-convicted male perpetrators of DA to address substance misuse, mental health and unemployment.
• Provision of Merseyside’s first programme for abuse of parents by children and young people (police reports for which have significantly increased), using the Respect Young People’s Programme.
• Interventions using the Stalking Risk Profile to address intimate partner stalkers, with Paladin-trained ISACs providing support to those stalkers’ (female) victims. North Wales (1) £267,705 • Expansion of the ADAPT (Agencies Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Tasking) programme to:
i. reduce re-offending of domestic abuse perpetrators
ii. safeguard adults and children at risk of domestic abuse
iii. break the cycle of abuse of the perpetrator. South Yorkshire (1) £321,228 • Development of an offender programme which places positive requirements on offenders. This could also be mandated through Stalking Protection Orders.
• The programme will also assist in providing alternative outcomes for offenders and improve victim support. Surrey (1) £502,602 • Funding will allow more people to take the Compulsive and Obsessive Behaviour Intervention programme (including mandated clinical supervision).
• The programme will complement the force’s existing stalking advocacy service and provide an option for local magistrates issuing stalking protection orders. Sussex (1) £205,204 • Expansion of an existing programme for medium-risk DA perpetrators to cover East as well as West Sussex, by enabling referrals through core channels rather than just self-referrals, and providing a safeguarding support worker to safeguard those victims who do not wish to be referred to victim support services. Warwickshire (1) £200,000 • Implementation of a step-change programme focusing on therapeutic support, structured group work, individual work and intensive case management.
• Ongoing risk management of and specialist support for victims, including 1:1 therapeutic counselling, weekly group therapy sessions, and the support of an IDVA or DA Outreach Service. West Mercia (1) £455,939.37 • Development of Male and Masculinities and My Time, low/medium risk perpetrator programmes which complement an existing service working with high-risk perpetrators. West Midlands (1) £209, 332.78 • Establishment of a dedicated multi-disciplinary team, responding to the complex support needs of those referred domestic abuse perpetrators. Support will focus on health and social care needs, emotional wellbeing, housing, drugs and alcohol recovery, debt advice and education and employment.
• Funding will also support programmes for younger perpetrators aged 16+. West Yorkshire (1) £390,939 • Introduction of programmes focused on helping first time offenders.
• Support for Caring Dads Kirklees, a parenting programme for men who have exposed their children to domestic abuse.
• Support for Restore Families, a digitally delivered programme for adolescent perpetrators and Recognise Reflect Change, a programme for medium risk perpetrators.

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is pleased to launch Cycle 2 the Defence Innovation Loan competition, which has £10 million to lend for innovative defence solutions.

Accessible to SMEs, and with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum, the Defence Innovation Loan provides an excellent opportunity to apply for affordable funds to help you commercialise your defence solutions.

Defence Innovation Loans: An introduction

Defence Innovation Loans: An introduction

How to apply?

Check out the full document and submit your idea.

Have questions? Speak to the experts at our upcoming webinar

DASA and Innovate UK will host a live webinar to answer all of your questions about Defence Innovation Loans, on Thursday 9th September. This is a great opportunity for you to ask questions to our panel of experts from both organisations, so you can ensure your application is a success.

Register Now

Catch up on our previous webinar

We received some great questions during our last Defence Innovation Loans webinar. Catch up on what you missed here.

How much is available for a Defence Innovation Loan?

The total of £10 million is available for the Defence Innovation Loan competition this year, of which comprises £5M from the Defence Innovation Fund and £5M from Army.

You can apply for a loan between £250,000 and £1.6 million with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum. This loan can cover up to 100% of eligible project costs to aid the commercialisation of the solution and overall term of the loan must not exceed 7 years.

Please note, Innovate UK will carry out the Defence Innovation Loan credit evaluation of this competition and you will enter into a loan agreement and security agreement with Innovate UK Loans Ltd.

Read the full DASA competition document for more information on Defence Innovation Loans.

Who can apply for a Defence Innovation Loan?

To apply for a Defence Innovation Loan you must:

• be a UK registered SME
• intend to exploit the results in the UK or overseas to make a significant and positive impact on the UK economy and/or productivity
• give evidence that your business is suitable to take on a loan

Please note, individuals, academic institutions, research organisations and large companies are not eligible for innovation loans.

What kind of innovation will be considered for a loan?

The Defence Innovation Loan is open to innovative ideas to improve the defence of the UK. Your innovation must be mature at TRL 6 or above, to ensure the solution can be commercialised within the time scale of the Innovation Loan. There also must clearly be evidence of a defence need for the innovative solution.

Two tracks of funding

The Defence Innovation Loan has two tracks of funding, covering general Defence solutions and more specific solutions for the Army.

Track 1: Defence Innovation Fund (£5M)

Track 1 is open to innovative ideas to improve the Defence of the UK.

Track 2: Army Innovation Fund (£5M)

Track 2 is open to innovations which align with any of the priority areas below and targets an Army end user.

Priority areas include:

• army Industrial engagement framework decision-support
• directed energy weapons
• human performance enhancement
• information advantage
• robotics and autonomous systems
• and more…

Ready to apply?

Read the full DASA competition document here.

For more on Defence Innovation Loans, watch the video below:

Defence Innovation Loans: Everything you need to know

Defence Innovation Loans: Everything you need to know