COVID-19 UPDATE

16th September 2020

 

Dear Member

COVID-19 UPDATE

England – Track and Trace.  We still do not have the final regulations prior to Friday’s introduction of the legal requirement to request contact details for the purposes of Track and Trace.  I have had a conversation with officials at BEIS today who have confirmed they are still being written.  The indication was that it is likely arcades would be included; that if they were deemed to be in the hospitality sector then there would be a requirement to refuse entry to those that did not give details and that the regs would not go into detail on how businesses should collect details.  Rather there would be a general duty and it would be up to businesses to decide how it was discharged.

At this stage members are advised to assume they are included in the new legislation.  It is likely current arrangements will satisfy the new legal requirement but a review as to the robustness of those arrangements would be worthwhile.  Given the new powers that are available to local authorities around enforcement, I am sure there will be an expectation that most customers will have given details.

Here is a link to the Track and Trace page as it is currently written.  It is the best information we have at the moment.  You can also access details of the App/QR Code system which will automatically record customer details for T&T.  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/maintaining-records-of-staff-customers-and-visitors-to-support-nhs-test-and-trace

Evictions  – the Government has extended the moratorium on evictions of business customers, until the end of the year. Click here for details.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-extends-support-to-stop-business-evictions-this-year?utm_source=ef3c3b5a-92e8-4397-b84e-95b3924f40dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

 

Scotland – Jukeboxes.  We are still waiting for the Scottish Government to announce when it will allow music in pubs and under what conditions.  It is deeply frustrating and highly damaging to operators that this issue has not been resolved.  It has killed footfall in pubs and counter productively encouraged groups to gather in homes to watch sport amongst other things.

Thank you to all members who provided information on current and expected redundancies.  That is very helpful information.

Kind regards,

John

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