For employees who have been advised to shield again to due to local/regional/national restrictions or lockdowns, will Royal Mail sick pay be provided?

[POSTMAN]

I have an employee in my team who is in the extremely clinically vulnerable group. There are local restrictions in place, so do they need to shield again?

Shielding ended on 31 July 2020 (16 August in Wales), so employees who cannot work from home could return to work as our workplaces are ‘COVID-19 secure’. There may be cases of local/regional/national restrictions or lockdowns (e.g. the lockdown in England from 5 November to 2 December 2020) where those employees who were previously shielding themselves are advised to do so again or take extra care.

There may also be other employees who were not previously shielding, but due to a change in circumstances are now required to shield, e.g. they are undergoing chemotherapy. Where a local restriction impacts on the business, we will issue a COVID-19 flash communication to those in the affected areas. If this occurs, we encourage our managers to contact those employees to discuss their personal situation at the time.

For employees who have been advised by the NHS to shield themselves during periods of local/regional/national restrictions or lockdowns and provide the NHS updated letter as appropriate medical evidence to support this, we will continue to pay entitlement to RMG sick pay.

We will also provide financial support to those in that group who are due to move on to half pay, nil pay or Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). More details of this support will be communicated shortly.

When an extremely clinically vulnerable employee is returning to work managers should use the Return to work toolkit to discuss their return to work and contact HR Advice and Support where necessary.

Please note that the advice could change, so always check the Public Health website for the very latest position.

UPDATED 10 NOV 2020

Safe return process agreed for vulnerable Royal Mail Group workers

2nd post PDF in the Global Announcement...
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[postslippete]

as our workplaces are ‘COVID-19 secure’

Really?

There are Yorks and mini Yorks with packets stashed everywhere in the office and down the aisles which are less than 2 metres apart. You cannot fail not to bump into people whilst fetching the mail and packets. Most guys want to work at the earlier start time rather than come in at 10am. More hire vans leads to an overcrowded yard, a potential health and safety nightmare, accidents just waiting to happen.

Who decided that my workplace was covid19 secure? Could that be the Unit rep and not someone who is a proper health and safety official??

[POSTMAN]

https://www.myroyalmail.com/news/2020/1 ... -shielding

We are extending sick pay to clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) colleagues

We understand that colleagues who are clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) have been advised not to go to work during the national lockdown in England, if they cannot work from home.

Employees in this group will have received a letter from the UK Government/NHS, with detailed advice on what they can and cannot do during the current lockdown period.

People who are defined as CEV are at very high risk of severe illness from Covid-19, so if a colleague receives a letter from the UK Government/NHS advising them to shield, they should do so. If they are unable to work from home, they should not come to work.

We are extending Royal Mail sick pay to colleagues with CEV status as we did during the last lockdown. Exceptionally, we will also offer full sick pay to support CEV colleagues who are due to move on to half pay/nil pay or Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). This means CEV colleagues with less than a year’s service are also covered. This will apply where you cannot work from home. Colleagues who are on half/nil/SSP and in this category will receive a letter confirming the arrangement.

This approach will be in place until Wednesday 2 December when lockdown and shielding are due to end. The extension of our policy is at our discretion and we will review the situation again once we know whether lockdown or shielding are being extended.

As a condition of extending sick pay colleagues must:

• Provide their manager with the letter they received from the Government/NHS advising them to shield and not come to work, if they cannot work from home, during the lockdown period.
  Agree to book and take all their full annual leave entitlement this holiday year (ending 31 March 2021) even if it overlaps with shielding.
  Agree to take any pre-booked annual leave, even if that overlaps with shielding.
  Colleagues will receive their usual pay when taking holiday.

Please note, the clinically extremely vulnerable rules currently only apply in England. Northern Ireland https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/co ... ble-people, Scotland https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-shielding/ and Wales https://gov.wales/guidance-on-shielding ... id-19-html continue to have their own restrictions in place.