Businesses required to prepare for NHS COVID-19 app

Businesses like pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas are required to ensure they have NHS QR code posters visible on entry so customers who have downloaded the new NHS COVID-19 app can use their smartphones to easily check-in.

The move comes ahead of a national launch of the NHS COVID-19 app across England and Wales on Thursday 24 September.

The government will be supporting businesses and venues to display the QR codes which can be downloaded via a website to display as posters in premises.

Downloadable resources have also been made available.

NHS test and trace

It is now legally required for certain businesses to have a system to collect NHS Test and Trace data and keep this for 21 days.

Businesses can refuse entry to anyone or any group who refuses to provide the requested details – unless they are under 16.

Businesses and other public settings where people meet socially – including hospitality venues, workplace canteens, close contact services, hotel and guest accommodation, museums, galleries and libraries, leisure and community venues – must record details of customers, visitors and staff.

Core COVID-19 Secure requirements will be mandated for businesses and egregious breaches enforced.

Read the full story here

Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19)

► Updated guidance on how to make your workplace COVID-secure

► Updated guidance on the safe use of multi-purpose community facilities

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FREE COVID-19 Workplace recovery consultation

Organisational culture has faced dramatic, likely permanent changes in the wake of COVID-19. The challenges businesses face include:

• Abrupt transitions to remote work that force new modes of communication
• Rebuilt business strategies with no guarantees of success
• The ever-present need for a workforce to do more with less

Innovate Enterprise Solutions (IES) offer leadership, team and business development consultancy and training with a key focus on people and change. They offer bespoke solutions to meet the needs of your people and your organisation’s success.

Let IES help shape your culture in a way that supports employee morale, business recovery and continued success!

Come along and connect with Danielle Heath & Steph Grainger at the Braintree Enterprise Centre on Wednesday, 30 September. Or if you prefer book on for a Zoom session.

Book your FREE consultation here.

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Businesses and Venues required to enforce the ‘rule of six’

Last Friday (18 September), the government announced that any premises which permits consumption of food or drink ON its premises should enforce these conditions:

• must not accept a booking for a table of more than 6 (unless meets the exemption)
• no group shall be admitted that exceeds 6
• no person from one group can mingle with another group
• an appropriate distance (2 metres or 1 metre with mitigation) must be kept between groups

Hospitality venues – including pubs, bars and restaurants – are now legally required to enforce the rule of 6 or face a fine of up to £4,000.

Read the full story here.

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Support for businesses as new restrictions are introduced to suppress the virus

We would like to thank businesses for all their hard work in implementing the new COVID-19 secure guidelines over the past few months. We recognise that what’s been asked of businesses, in all sectors, has been an incredibly difficult and challenging task.

We realise that implementing the new changes may involve a certain degree of trial and error and will be work in progress. It’s important to remember, however, that some of the changes are now mandated in law.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind businesses of the key steps to working safely:

1. Complete a COVID-19 risk assessment and share it with staff
2. Clean more often and ask people to use hand sanitiser
3. Ask your customers to wear a face covering in any indoor space or where required to do so by law
4. Make sure everyone is social distancing 
5. Increase ventilation
6. Take part in the NHS Test and Trace and keep records of customers for 21 days
7. Turn people with coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms away

Important: The government has published and recently updated simplified COVID-19 Secure guidance.

We’ve worked hard to read and interpret the new guidance to be in a position to advise our local businesses, visitor attractions and other premises on how to operate safely.

If your business needs help in improving procedures or in understanding what more needs to be done, please email [email protected] or telephone 01376 557790 for that advice, help and support.

Our role is to help and support you – so help us, help you.

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Closing certain businesses and venues

The government has updated the guidance on the closure of certain businesses and venues to reflect changes in rules about social contact and requirements to collect data for test and trace.

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Government extends support to stop business evictions this year

Businesses will be protected from the threat of eviction until the end of year, providing commercial tenants with greater security and protecting vital jobs, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced on Thursday (16 September 2020).

This move will help those businesses most in need of additional support to remain in their premises without the threat of eviction for the rest of this year, giving them the chance to focus on rebuilding their business over the autumn and Christmas period.

Read the full story here.

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Driving for Better Business support

Data tells us that 1 in 3 road crashes involve somebody who is ‘at work’ at the time. That’s not just van, lorry or bus drivers, it could be a manager going to a meeting or somebody popping out for supplies. These incidents not only cause pain and suffering for those involved, they can damage business or organisational reputations, generate unnecessary costs and leave you open to legal problems.

The Safer Essex Roads Partnership, supported by Highways England, are offering a free Driving for Better Business intervention to provide guidance and advice in managing road risk. There is no obligation and all information is exchanged on a fully confidential basis.

For more information check out their website or email them at [email protected].

Don’t leave yourself open to problems in the future.

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Getting help for your business

You can call the government’s helpline on FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098 for free, impartial advice and business support.

You can find free support, advice and sources of finance through your local growth hub or speak to an advisor on webchat about support for your business.

This useful financial tool can also help you find the right support for your business.

We will continue to bring you the most up-to-date advice via these emails, our website and on social media. You can also contact us on [email protected] for help, advice and support.

Please join our closed Braintree District Businesses Facebook group to find support from other businesses in our district.

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