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Consultation on mandatory vaccination for health workers

Palmers Solicitors in Essex

The Government has launched a consultation process on making COVID-19 and flu vaccination a condition of deployment for frontline workers in health and care settings.

Plans are already in place to make it mandatory for care home workers in England to be double jabbed by November 11, unless exempt.

But there are fears that making the vaccinations for both COVID-19 and flu could lead to staffing shortages.

The consultation will consider three risks in clinical settings and how they can be mitigated by vaccination:

·        the level of interaction in a clinical setting between staff, patients and visitors

·        the vulnerability of patients

·        high-risk procedures

It will take place over a six-week period and staff, healthcare providers, patients and their families are all being urged to share their views.

So far 92 per cent of NHS staff have had their first dose and 88 per cent both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and now ministers are urging the remainder to take up the offer now to keep themselves and those they care for safe.

But some unions, including the nursing union the Royal College of Nursing, have warned that making the jabs mandatory could lead to staff shortages.

Helen Donovan, Royal College of Nursing Professional Lead for Public Health, said:  “All nursing staff should have any vaccine deemed necessary to help protect themselves, patients, colleagues, family members, and the wider community. This has always included the flu vaccine and more recently the COVID-19 vaccine.

“We do, however, have concerns around mandating vaccines and whether this will ultimately improve uptake. The focus should be on communicating the benefits of vaccination rather than making them mandatory.

“Involving staff in this consultation will help them to become further involved in the decision making and it is vital their views are properly taken into account over the next steps.”

This winter will be the first in the UK when COVID-19 could be circulating with other respiratory viruses like the flu. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) says this could significantly contribute to the NHS’s winter pressures, with more vulnerable people expected to be admitted into hospital over the coming months.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: Many patients being treated in hospitals and other clinical settings are most at risk of suffering serious consequences of COVID-19, and we must do what we can to protect them.

“We will consider the responses to the consultation carefully but, whatever happens, I urge the small minority of NHS staff who have not yet been jabbed to consider getting vaccinated – for their own health as well as those around them.”

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Temporary insolvency measures to be phased out from October, Government reveals

Palmers Solicitors in Essex

Provisions preventing businesses from entering insolvency will be phased out from next month, the Government has announced.

The measures – launched in June last year to protect firms impacted by coronavirus disruption – will be replaced by new rules designed to help companies “get back to their feet”.

According to the Insolvency Service, the temporary measures brought in to support businesses at risk of insolvency will be replaced from 01 October.

The temporary rules, introduced under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020, ensure that viable businesses in financial distress as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown were not placed into insolvency unnecessarily.

But now coronavirus constraints have been lifted, restrictions on creditor action will be phased out, the Government said.

They will be replaced by a new set of measures – in place until 31 March 2022 – that are intended to help “smaller companies”, such as high street businesses and those in the hospitality and leisure sectors, recover before creditors can take action to wind them up.

HM Treasury said the new provisions will:

  • Protect businesses from creditors insisting on repayment of relatively small debts by temporarily raising the current debt threshold for a winding up petition to £10,000 or more.
  • Require creditors to seek proposals for payment from a debtor business, giving them 21 days for a response before they can proceed with winding up action.

Commenting on the announcement, Business Minister Lord Callanan said: “The success of our vaccine rollout means we are seeing life and the economy returning to normal with a strong rebound, and the time is right to lift the insolvency restrictions that were needed during the pandemic.

“At the same time, we know many smaller businesses are rebuilding their balance sheets and reserves, and some will need more time to get back on their feet. These new measures protections will help them to do that.”For help and advice with related matters, please get in touch with our corporate team today.

Boom continues as average house price in UK nears £250k

Palmers Solicitors in Essex

The average house price in the UK is nearing £250,000 as the growth in prices shows no sign of abating, even as the end of the Chancellor’s stamp duty initiative is winding down.

The annual price growth in August rose to 11 per cent compared with 10.5 per cent in July, with prices rising by 2.1 per cent month-on-month. That made it the second largest gain in 15 years, according to the latest Nationwide House Price Index.

The average house price has now increased by 13 per cent since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.

In the UK it now stands at £248,857, more than £4,000 up on the July figure of £244,229.

The survey suggests that the strong demand could be fuelled by those looking to buy at the £125,000 to £250,000 price range, where they are still able to take advantage of stamp duty relief in England and Northern Ireland until the end of September.

Another factor in the rise could be the lack of housing stock, which is being reported by estate agents.

The report also suggested that with the rebound in consumer confidence since the economy opened up again and the resilience of the labour market, people are prepared to push ahead, encouraged further by record low borrowing costs.

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “Annual house price growth slowed to 10.5 per cent in July, from the 17-year high of 13.4 per cent recorded the previous month. In month-on-month terms, house prices fell by 0.5 per cent, after taking account of seasonal effects, following a 0.7 per cent rise in June.

“The modest fallback in July was unsurprising given the significant gains recorded in recent months. Indeed, house prices increased by an average of 1.6 per cent a month over the April to June period – more than six times the average monthly gain recorded in the five years before the pandemic.

“The tapering of stamp duty relief is also likely to have taken some of the heat out of the market. This provided a strong incentive to complete house purchases before the end of June, especially for higher priced properties. For those purchasing a property above £250,000, the maximum stamp duty saving is reduced from £15,000 to £2,500 after the end of June.”

He added that in the short-term demand should remain strong, but is likely to slow once the stamp duty holiday expires at the end of September.

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