COVID-19 Advice & Help Page

*May 1st 2021 Update* Planned re-opening of outdoor hires. Bookings are currently being welcomed for the period 1st Mat 2021 and beyond.

*May 4th 2020 Update* HIRES are currently CLOSED. As a responsible and safety paramount company we made the decision to stop all hires at the start of lockdown until further notice. You can still make a booking for June 2020 onwards, but please note the booking will greatly depend on Government Restrictions. If you currently have a booking in place in our diary we are aware and will update you as and when government guidelines change.

Advice 1: "Event Planning & Delivery"

Source of information and downloads available at: https://www.eventctrl.co.uk/corona-virus-advice-for-events/

Planning Phase

• Appoint a Champion: This should be a senior person with delegation powers to champion the hygiene and safety culture throughout the event.
• Plan from afar: Is remote working viable? Use Google Hangouts, Zoom, Skype etc to continue the all-important planning phase.
• Local heroes: Engage with your local authority Environment Health and local NHS Public Health teams for advice.
• Crunch the numbers: What do you need to do for your business to survive this period? Do you have a ‘drop-dead’ date by which you need to cancel to minimise any losses?
• Comms - advance: Staff, customers, sponsors, government stakeholders, the press – what and how often will you communicate to them?
• The Surge: Does the local health service have the capacity to deal with your event during this time? Does your event rely on local policing? Can your event continue without this support?
• Food Hygiene Teams - advancing: Advice to vendors, advance documentation checks, HACCPs, training records. Consider adding content to your doc requirements, e.g. cleaning regime schedules.
• Artists: International, and maybe even domestic touring may be impacted significantly – consider how your programming would hold up.
• Safety: Reconsider all aspects of your risk assessment. Cleansing is important, but also consider crowd behaviour, security, fire safety (chemical storage) and most importantly, the health and safety of your staff, contractors and visitors.
• Even if the government doesn’t shutdown, will people attend?
• Readiness Exercises: Do sit-down run-throughs of what your strategic, tactical and operational responses will be in the event of an outbreak. Is there a hierarchy and contingency plan in place if key staff fall ill?
• Training: Give all your teams the confidence and equipment to deliver a safe event. Make them comfortable in their role and promote the message of a calm and measured response.
• A to B: Consider how transport network capacity could be affected during your event. Engage with your local transport teams.

Operational Phase

• Staffing: Will you have enough security, medical and stewards to run the event? Consider over allocating to avoid staff shortages.
• Loo-nacy: Assess and up-lift your toilet and shower and ‘surface’ cleansing provision. Invest in extra hot water/handwash facilities and ensure consumables are in ready supply.
• The right stuff: Make sure you are using disinfectants that comply with BS EN1276 & BS EN 13697. With a lack of appropriate chemical supplies globally, it’s important to check your products.
• Food Hygiene Teams - onsite: Monitoring cleaning regimes, checking cross contamination, hot-holding and logging all spot-checks.
• All the Gear: Gloves and sprays go without saying, but also consider any additional needed for cleaning regimes.
• Hygiene for the masses: Some shows have deployed dedicated additional staff to bring the hygiene message to the masses. No food queue line, crew catering, bar or toilet block is left un-turned with hand sanitiser.
• Isolation Area: If somebody presents with symptoms at your event, have a dedicated place - and team - to care for them (not your regular medical area). Face masks should be available to reduce the potential spread and ensure they can get home safely.
• Comms - onsite: Reinforce the hygiene message through welfare teams, info point teams, toilet cleaners, vendors, box office staff. Permanent (correx/foamex) signage and VMS can be used to promote the message.
• Unusual Suspects: Consider the smaller potential areas for hygiene uplifts: bars, vendors, sponsorship activations. Not just crew catering! Do externally-managed venues at your event have the same high standards as you?
• Be Social: Understand how your messaging online could either calm or agitate a potentially nervous crowd.

Money Advice

Potential income for Zero Hours Workers (freelancers) and Businessss

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has made some changes to the sick pay system as part of his Budget.

The government has said it will make it "quicker and easier" for self-employed people affected by coronavirus to access benefits.

The Chancellor said that those on contributory employment and support Allowance (ESA) will be able to claim from day one, instead of day eight.

He is also temporarily removing the minimum income floor from universal credit. The minimum income floor would have taken into account how much you would normally expect to earn in a month when calculating your entitlement to universal credit.

Not having the floor means they will be able to claim for time they spend off work due to sickness.

If you are a business owner, there may be more relief available. This includes:

• Employee statutory sick pay for "all those who are advised to self-isolate" even if they have not displayed symptoms
• Business rates for shops, cinemas, restaurants and music venues in England with a rateable value below £51,000 suspended for a year
• A £500m "hardship fund" to be given to local authorities in England to help vulnerable people in their areas
• A "temporary coronavirus business interruption loan scheme" for banks to offer loans of up to £1.2m to support small and medium-sized businesses
• The government will meet costs for businesses with fewer than 250 employees of providing statutory sick pay to those off work because of coronavirus
• Plans to make it quicker and easier to get benefits for those on zero hours contracts
• Benefit claimants who have been advised to stay at home will not have to physically attend job centres

Details of this are yet to be announced, however as the schemes are developed in the coming weeks we will continue to update our advice.

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