As part of my ongoing work to help communities in Mid Norfolk create their own Neighbourhood Plans, I am delighted to promote the efforts of Saham Toney Parish Council.

Many hours of tireless community work has gone into producing the Plan and, even in these difficult times, the hard work continues.

Unable to hold a public meeting, the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group have prepared a set of ‘stay at home’ slideshows to update local businesses and residents on the Plan’s progress. These can be downloaded from their website here

For those without the time to sit down and read through the slideshows in detail, the Working Group have produced a ‘5 minute Coffee Break’ summary, which can also be accessed on the website.

The Neighbourhood Plan is a hugely important piece of work for the community – helping to determine how they would like the village to grow over the next two decades. I would encourage everyone associated with the village to take the time to look over the documents and share their views.

Great news that here in Norfolk we have set up our own Norfolk Testing stations and Mobile testing system, so that people locally can get tests closer to home. 

Click here for more info: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested

Community coronavirus testing in Norfolk and Waveney now available to “key workers” (and/or household members with symptoms).

Click here for more information: Click here

The NHS in Norfolk and Waveney is offering coronavirus tests to key workers* such as teachers or food industry staff, to help them remain in work. This also applies to members of their household who may have coronavirus symptoms causing the key worker to self-isolate.

Employers or line managers are required to begin the booking process via a local email system. This is to confirm the person is eligible, after which they will be able to make their own appointment. Bookings can be made immediately.  

John Webster, an Executive Director with NHS Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Our local hospitals have worked together to significantly expand community NHS coronavirus testing. We recommend people try to book using our local system rather than the national system because you will be directed to a local test centre rather than a regional centre although the national system offers home tests which equally some people may prefer.”

People who are confirmed eligible for testing in Norfolk and Waveney will be given an appointment at one of three drive or walk-through centres. These are at the Centrum centre, close to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH), at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn (QEHKL) or at the James Paget University Hospital (JPUH) in Gorleston. The service is being managed collaboratively on behalf of all three hospitals by the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Once an employer or line manager has applied on behalf of a key worker and/or their family, they will be issued a unique reference number and further instructions. All applications will be checked to make sure people are well enough to attend a testing centre, and eligible for a test in line with Public Health England guidance.

People will receive their test results within 48 hours or less, either directly or via their employer’s occupational health service, together with initial advice about to what to do next.

* Key workers include many people working in education, transport, many public services, energy, power and water/sewerage workers, and those working to provide, distribute or sell food. The precise definition is available on this government web page: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested#key-workers

The newly expanded provision in Norfolk and Waveney provides an alternative to the national testing offer which has centres at Ipswich, Stansted, Peterborough and elsewhere.  

A more detailed description of the Norfolk and Waveney service follows below.

 Norfolk and Waveney Key Worker Testing Referral Service

**Typical coronavirus symptoms are fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, general malaise and myalgia but some may experience other less typical symptoms such as anorexia, diarrhoea, nausea, dizziness, headache, vomiting, loss of taste and smell or pleuritic chest pain. As such, individuals may also be suitable for testing if they have any upper respiratory symptoms or a general malaise, with or without a fever or cough.  Please note all key worker testing applies to both symptomatic employees (isolating for 7 days) and household members (isolating for 14 days) 

Am I a key worker? Read the list on the Government’s website.

Key workers are people whose jobs are vital to public health and safety during the coronavirus lockdown. Because their work is so vital, the Government is keen to ensure they are able to work with as little restriction as possible, which means being able to put their children in school and using necessary transport. As of 15 April 2020 this was: 

All NHS and social care staff, including:

• doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers
• the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector
• those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines, and medical and personal protective equipment
• NHS Blood and Transplant frontline staff (blood donation staff, specialist nurses for organ donation, staff running therapeutic apheresis services in NHS hospitals)
• those providing ancillary support to NHS workers (such as hotel accommodation for NHS staff)

Essential public services staff, including:

• prisons, probation, courts and tribunals staff, judiciary
• religious staff
• charities and workers delivering critical frontline services
• those responsible for the management of the deceased
• journalists and broadcasters covering coronavirus or providing public service broadcasting
• public health and environmental staff, such as specialist community public health nursing

Public safety and national security staff, including:

• police and support staff
• Ministry of Defence civilians, contractors and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of critical defence and national security outputs and critical to the response to the coronavirus pandemic), including defence medical staff
• fire and rescue service employees (including support staff),
• National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas
• British Transport Police and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Transport workers, including:

• those who keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the coronavirus response
• those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass

Education and childcare workers, including:

• support and teaching staff
• social workers
• specialist education professionals

Critical personnel in the production and distribution of food, drink and essential goods, including:

• those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery
• those critical to the provision of other essential goods, such as medical supply chain and distribution workers, including community pharmacy and testing (such as PHE labs), and veterinary medicine
• workers critical to the continuity of essential movement of goods

Local and national government staff critical to the effective delivery of the coronavirus response, or delivering essential public services, such as the payment of benefits

Public and environmental health staff, including in government agencies and arm’s length bodies

Funeral industry workers

Frontline local authority staff and volunteers, including

• those working with vulnerable children and adults, victims of domestic abuse, and the homeless and rough sleepers (and hotel staff supporting these groups)
• voluntary sector organisations providing substance misuse treatment

Utilities, communication and financial services staff, including:

• staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure)
• the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage)
• information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the coronavirus response
• essential staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 essential services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

Delighted that the Chancellor has announced

- New #BounceBack loan scheme: a simple, quick, easy solution for SMEs

- Max of £50,000 or 25% of turnover, with Government paying the interest for the first 12 months.

More detail below on how to apply: 

This scheme is not available yet. It will launch on 4 May 2020.

The Bounce Back Loan scheme will help small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000.

The government will guarantee 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months.

Loan terms will be up to 6 years. No repayments will be due during the first 12 months. The government will work with lenders to agree a low rate of interest for the remaining period of the loan.

The scheme will be delivered through a network of accredited lenders.

Eligibility

You can apply for a loan if your business:

• is based in the UK
• has been negatively affected by coronavirus
• was not an ‘undertaking in difficulty’ on 31 December 2019

Who cannot apply

The following businesses are not eligible to apply:

• banks, insurers and reinsurers (but not insurance brokers)
• public-sector bodies
• further-education establishments, if they are grant-funded
• state-funded primary and secondary schools

If you’re already claiming funding

You cannot apply if you’re already claiming under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

If you’ve already received a loan of up to £50,000 under CBILS and would like to transfer it into the Bounce Back Loan scheme, you can arrange this with your lender until 4 November 2020.

How to apply

The Bounce Back Loan scheme will launch on 4 May 2020.

More information about the scheme will be published shortly.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-coronavirus-bounce-back-loan

Having raised serious concerns about the level of uptake and the delivery of the Covid Business support schemes, I’m pleased that Her Majesty’s Treasury has heard and responds to some of the concerns over furloughing and the self employed.  

More needs to be done, but the Latest update from Her Majesty’s Treasury HERE.

To note, people who have not submitted their Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018 to 2019, must do this by 23 April 2020 or they will not be able to claim.

HMRC will aim to contact people by mid May 2020 if they are eligible for the scheme and invite them to claim using the GOV.UK online service. Alternative methods to claim for those who are not online will be available.

Changes:

1. A change to the Furlough Claim Dates: This means employers can now claim for furloughed employees that were employed and on their PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020, rather than the previous cut-off date of 28 February 2020.
2. The Govt have also now issued guidance on how HMRC works out the total income and trading profits for the self employed though the income support scheme. HERE.
3. The Chancellor has expanded the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme ahead of its launch on Monday, ensuring that no viable business slips through our safety net of support as we help protect jobs and the economy.
   • Firms with a turnover of more than £45 million will now be able to apply for up to £25 million of finance, and up to £50 million for firms with a turnover of more than £250 million.
   • Businesses with turnovers of more than £500 million were originally not eligible for the scheme – but the scheme has been extended after extensive consultation with businesses to ensure all viable firms are able to benefit from support.
   • We said we would support our economy – and we meant it. Our unprecedented package of measures is one of the most generous in the world, and we are ensuring businesses are provided with the support they need during the pandemic, helping to provide job security to thousands of people and protect our economy

I welcome the Chancellors £750m+ charity package, which looks to help the Covid response provided by the voluntary sector, including hospices, Mind, Age UK and others and also to those supporting domestic abuse victims.

• £750 million pot for frontline charities across the UK – including hospices and those supporting domestic abuse victims.

• £360 million direct from Government departments and £370m for smaller charities, including through a grant to the National Lottery Community Fund.

• Government will match donations to the National Emergencies Trust as part of the BBC’s Big Night In fundraiser later this month – pledging a minimum of £20 million.

——

Charities across the UK will receive a £750 million package of support to ensure they can continue their vital work during the coronavirus outbreak

Tens of thousands of charities providing vital services will benefit from direct cash grants to ensure they can meet increased demand as a result of the virus as well as continuing their day to day activities supporting those in need.

As part of a UK-wide package of support, £360 million will be directly allocated by Government departments to key charities providing key services and supporting vulnerable people during the crisis.

As well as this, £370 million for small and medium-sized charities, including through a grant to the National Lottery Community Fund for those in England, will support those organisations at the heart of local communities which are making a big difference during the outbreak, including those delivering food, essential medicines and providing financial advice.

The Chancellor also announced the government will match fund whatever the public decides to donate to the BBC’s Big Night In charity appeal on April 23rd, starting with a contribution of at least £20m to the National Emergencies Trust appeal.

This announcement builds on previous announcements by the Chancellor to support charities and businesses, including deferring their VAT bills, paying no business rates for their shops next year, and furloughing staff where possible with the Government paying 80% of their wages.

Charities providing vital services and helping vulnerable people through the current crisis will benefit from the £360 million allocated by Government departments. 

These will include:

• Hospices to help increase capacity and give stability to the sector
• St Johns Ambulance to support the NHS
• Victims charities, including domestic abuse, to help with potential increase in demand for charities providing these services
• Vulnerable children charities, so they can continue delivering services on behalf of local authorities
• Citizens Advice to increase the number of staff providing advice during this difficult time

Departments will now work at pace to identify priority recipients, with the aim for charities to receive money in the coming weeks. The application system for the National Lottery Community Fund grant pot is expected to be operational within weeks as well.

Where charitable services are devolved the UK Government has applied the Barnett formula in the normal way. The devolved administrations are therefore being funded to provide a similar level of support to charities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Link to government Advice here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-sets-out-extra-750-million-coronavirus-funding-for-frontline-charities