These are the provisions in the Coronavirus Bill that the Government are proposing. They are wide-ranging, some sensible and others which contain risks.
The UK government’s
coronavirus action plan,
published on 3 March, set out measures to respond to the COVID-19
outbreak that are reasonable, proportionate and based on the latest
scientific evidence. Specifically, it detailed:
- what we know about the virus and the disease it causes
- how we have planned for an infectious disease outbreak
- what we are planning to do next, depending on the course the coronavirus outbreak takes
- the role the public can play in supporting this response, now and in the future
The plan also includes information on the government’s 4-stage
strategy: contain, delay, research, mitigate. It sets out advice for how
the public should respond in each stage, including what to expect as
the outbreak advances.
It also envisaged that changes to legislation might be necessary in
order to give public bodies across the UK the tools and powers they need
to carry out an effective response to this emergency. This paper sets
out, subject to final approvals, the elements of the bill and the
reasons why they are needed.
The development of an effective response to the epidemic requires a
number of actions. Some of these involve the use of tools and powers
that are set out in statute. The governments of the UK therefore
resolved to review and where necessary amend the legislation, to ensure
that the UK’s response is consistent and effective.
Some of the proposed changes therefore deal with easing the burden on
frontline NHS and adult social care staff, some help staff by enabling
them to work without financial penalty, and some support people and
communities in taking care of themselves, their families and loved ones,
and their wider community.
The legislation will be time-limited – for 2 years – and not all of
these measures will come into force immediately. The bill allows the 4
UK governments to switch on these new powers when they are needed, and,
crucially, to switch them off again once they are no longer necessary,
based on the advice of Chief Medical Officers of the 4 nations.
The measures in the coronavirus bill are temporary, proportionate to
the threat we face, will only be used when strictly necessary and be in
place for as long as required to respond to the situation.
We have worked closely with the devolved administrations to develop
an effective package of measures to support frontline staff and
individuals involved in this vital national response.
Contents of the bill
The bill enables action in 5 key areas:
-
increasing the available health and social care workforce – for
example, by removing barriers to allow recently retired NHS staff and
social workers to return to work (and in Scotland, in addition to
retired people, allowing those who are on a career break or are social
worker students to become temporary social workers)
-
easing the burden on frontline staff – by reducing the number of
administrative tasks they have to perform, enabling local authorities to
prioritise care for people with the most pressing needs, allowing key
workers to perform more tasks remotely and with less paperwork, and
taking the power to suspend individual port operations
-
containing and slowing the virus – by reducing unnecessary social
contacts, for example through powers over events and gatherings, and
strengthening the quarantine powers of police and immigration officers
-
managing the deceased with respect and dignity – by enabling the
death management system to deal with increased demand for its services
-
supporting people – by allowing them to claim Statutory Sick Pay
from day one, and by supporting the food industry to maintain supplies
The proposals set out in the bill will significantly enhance the
ability of public bodies across the UK to provide an effective response
to tackle this epidemic. We are therefore aiming for it to reach the
statute book and begin to take effect from the end of this month.
However, the provisions relating to Statutory Sick Pay are intended to
have retrospective effect to 13 March.
Increasing the available health and social care workforce
Although we are implementing measures to save lives through delaying
and flattening the peak of the epidemic, it is clear that the next few
months will present a significant level of challenge for the NHS and
anyone working in caring professions. As in all sectors, there will be
pressures from increased staff absence, if staff are unwell or
self-isolating with their households.
In addition to this, there will be increased numbers of people
becoming ill with COVID-19 and some of these people will require medical
treatment or need to be admitted to hospital. These additional patient
volumes will place pressure on our NHS. To ensure the best possible
level of care is provided to those most in need, we may need to take
measures to increase the available health and social care workforce and
reduce the number of admin tasks they have to perform so they have more
time to spend with patients.
To support this, the bill seeks to:
-
enable regulators to emergency register suitable people as
regulated healthcare professionals, such as nurses, midwives or
paramedics. This might include (but will not be limited to) recently
retired professionals and students who are near the end of their
training. Registered staff can then be used appropriately, with
decisions made on a local basis, to increase the available health and
social care workforce and enable essential health and care services to
function during the height of the epidemic
-
enable regulators to temporarily add social workers to their
registers who may have recently left the profession. This will ensure
vital continuity of care for vulnerable children and adults
-
enable employees and workers to take Emergency Volunteer Leave in
blocks of 2, 3 or 4 weeks’ statutory unpaid leave and establish a
UK-wide compensation fund to compensate for loss of earnings and
expenses incurred at a flat rate for those who volunteer through an
appropriate authority. This will ensure that volunteers do not suffer
financial disadvantage as a result of performing a public good.
Volunteers play a critical role in the delivery of health and social
care services and are particularly important in caring for the most
vulnerable in our society, such as the elderly, those with multiple
long-term conditions or those suffering from mental ill-health
-
provide indemnity for clinical negligence liabilities arising
from NHS activities carried out for the purposes of dealing with, or
because of, the coronavirus outbreak, where there is no existing
indemnity arrangement in place. This will ensure that those providing
healthcare service activity across the UK are legally protected for the
work they are required to undertake as part of the COVID-19 response.
This is in line with and will complement existing arrangements
-
suspend the rule that currently prevents some NHS staff who
return to work after retirement from working more than 16 hours per
week, along with rules on abatements and drawn-down of NHS pensions that
apply to certain retirees who return to work. This will allow skilled
and experienced staff who have recently retired from the NHS to return
to work, and also allow retired staff who have already returned to work
to increase their commitments if required, without having their pension
benefits suspended
Easing the burden on frontline staff, both within the NHS and beyond
In the NHS and in other sectors who undertake activities that are
vital to keeping the country running safely and securely, we may also
face particular increased pressures as a result of staff absence or
increased work volumes. This could include those caring for children or
in education, protecting our borders, detaining and treating people
under the Mental Health Act, supporting local authorities and ensuring
national security. By reducing the number of admin tasks they have to
perform, allowing key workers to perform more tasks remotely and with
less paperwork, we will enable these crucial services to continue to
operate effectively during periods of reduced staffing.
To support this the bill seeks to:
-
enable existing mental health legislation powers to detain and
treat patients who need urgent treatment for a mental health disorder
and are a risk to themselves or others, to be implemented using just one
doctor’s opinion (rather than the current 2). This will ensure that
those who were a risk to themselves or others would still get the
treatment they need, when fewer doctors are available to undertake this
function
-
temporarily allow extension or removal of time limits in mental
health legislation to allow for greater flexibility where services are
less able to respond. These temporary changes would be brought in only
in the instance that staff numbers were severely adversely affected
during the pandemic period and provide some flexibility to help support
the continued safe running of services under the Mental Health Act
-
allow NHS providers to delay undertaking the assessment process
for NHS continuing healthcare for individuals being discharged from
hospital until after the emergency period has ended
-
make changes to the Care Act 2014 in England and the Social
Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to enable local authorities to
prioritise the services they offer in order to ensure the most urgent
and serious care needs are met, even if this means not meeting
everyone’s assessed needs in full or delaying some assessments. During a
pandemic, a lot of people who work in health and social care could be
off sick or may need to care for loved ones. This could mean that local
authorities, which are responsible for social care, may not be able to
do all the things they are usually required to do
Local authorities will still be expected to do as much as they can to
comply with their duties to meet needs during this period and these
amendments would not remove the duty of care they have towards an
individual’s risk of serious neglect or harm.
These powers would only be used if demand pressures and workforce
illness during the pandemic meant that local authorities were at
imminent risk of failing to fulfil their duties and only last the
duration of the emergency. It would ensure that local authorities will
continue to be able to deliver the best possible care services during
the peak and to protect the lives of the most vulnerable members of
society.
-
temporarily relax local authorities’ duties in relation to their
duties to conduct a needs assessment and prepare an adult carer support
plan/young care statement under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, the
Children (Scotland) Act 1995, the Social Care (Self-directed Support)
(Scotland) Act 2013 and the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 to enable them to
prioritise people with the greatest needs
-
provide powers to require educational institutions or childcare
providers to stay open or relax some requirements around education
legislation in order to help these institutions run effectively during
the event of an emergency. This could include reducing teacher ratios,
adapting school meal standards and relaxing provisions for those with
special educational needs. This will ensure that children, young people
and those who work with them remain safe, while minimising disruption to
everyday life and progression to further and higher education or
employment by ensuring schools have the flexibility and support they
need to respond pragmatically to the changing situation
-
enable the Home Secretary to request that port and airport
operators temporarily close and suspend operations if Border Force staff
shortages result in a real and significant threat to the UK’s border
security. This is to ensure the UK can maintain adequate border security
throughout the pandemic and protect the public from the threat of
criminality or importation of prohibited items that could result from an
inadequately controlled border. This would only be used in extremis,
where necessary and proportionate, and any direction will be kept to the
minimum period necessary to maintain the security of the UK border
-
expand availability of video and audio link in court proceedings.
This would include magistrates’ court hearings taking place by phone or
by video, should an individual appeal restriction of movement due to
quarantine measures. This will ensure that an appeal takes place but
will not require a person to break quarantine in order to attend in
person. It will also enable the expansion of the availability of video
and audio link in various criminal proceedings, including full video and
audio hearings in certain circumstances, and public participation in
relation to these and other court and tribunal proceedings conducted by
audio and video. The measures will enable a wider range of proceedings
to be carried out by video, so that courts can continue to function and
remain open to the public, without the need for participants to attend
in person. This will give judges more options for avoiding adjournments
and keeping business moving through the courts to help reduce delays in
the administration of justice and alleviate the impact on families,
victims, witnesses and defendants
-
ensure that the Treasury can transact its business at all times,
by making it possible for a single commissioner or a single Treasury
minister to sign instruments and act on behalf of the commissioners,
during a COVID-19 emergency period. Under current rules, where any
instrument or act is required to be signed by the Commissioners of Her
Majesty’s Treasury, it must be signed by 2 or more of the commissioners.
This change will ensure that the Treasury can transact its business at
all times during a COVID-19 emergency period, should commissioners be
unable to fulfil their duty
-
allow temporary judicial commissioners (JCs) to be appointed at
the request of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, in the event that
there are insufficient JCs available to operate the system under the
Investigatory Powers Act 2016. This is the one of the critical pieces of
domestic legislation for national security. It creates the statutory
basis for the use of the investigatory powers by the intelligence and
law enforcement agencies, using warrants issued under the act. These
warrants provide the agencies with the capability they need to protect
national security and investigate and prevent serious crime.
The Home
Secretary, again at the request of the Investigatory Powers
Commissioner, will also be allowed to vary the time allowed for urgent
warrants to be reviewed by a JC and how long they can last before they
need to be reviewed. The maximum time allowed for a review will be
increased to a maximum of 12 days (up from the current 3 days).
Maintaining national security capabilities at a time of potential
widespread upheaval is critical and it is necessary to ensure that the
powers to vary specific aspects of the regime are available to the
government should they be deemed necessary, for example if there are
fewer JCs available than usual.
Delaying and slowing the virus
The government’s objective is to delay and flatten the peak of the
epidemic by bringing forward the right measures at the right time, so
that we minimise suffering and save lives. To slow the virus, we will
need people to reduce unnecessary social contacts, which, for periods of
time, may mean preventing gatherings of people, postponing electoral
events over the course of the year or closing schools, further or high
education premises or childcare providers. This will help mitigate the
risk to public health arising from such mass gatherings.
This will happen only where necessary, to help minimise disruption to
everyday life and progression of children and young people to further
and higher education or employment. The measures would only be put in
place for the period of time required to mitigate the effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
To support this, the bill seeks to:
-
enable the government to restrict or prohibit events and
gatherings during the pandemic in any place, vehicle, train, vessel or
aircraft, any movable structure and any offshore installation and, where
necessary, to close premises
-
provide a temporary power to close educational establishments or childcare providers
-
postpone the local, mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner
elections that were due to take place in England in May this year until
May 2021. Provision will also be made to postpone other electoral events
over the course of the year (such as by-elections)
It’s also important that all UK countries have equivalent legal
measures in place to delay or prevent further transmission of the virus,
to ensure consistency across the whole UK. For example, removing a
current restriction in how Scottish territorial Health Boards can
deliver vaccination programmes would mean that, when a vaccine becomes
available, it can reach as many people as possible. To support this, the
bill seeks to:
-
enable the departments of health in Northern Ireland and Scotland
to make regulations for additional measures to be introduced to help
them delay or prevent further transmission of COVID-19. Equivalent
powers already exist in England and Wales and these provisions would
bring them in line with the rest of the UK
-
remove a restriction in how Scottish territorial Health Boards
can deliver vaccination programmes so a wider range of healthcare
professionals in Scotland would be able to administer a vaccine.
Public support and compliance is crucial and we are grateful for the
flexibility people have shown, but we need to ensure police and
immigration officers have the authority to enforce these measures where
necessary. Therefore, the bill will enable the police and immigration
officers to detain a person, for a limited period, who is, or may be,
infectious and to take them to a suitable place to enable screening and
assessment.
Managing the deceased with respect and dignity
The steps the government is taking to respond to the COVID-19
pandemic will save lives. However, sadly, as has already been seen,
people will lose loved ones as a result of this disease. We want to
ensure the deceased are treated with the utmost respect and dignity and
that the current procedures in relation to death and still-birth
registration and management are modified to enable this and to protect
public health. This will take account of the fact that families who have
lost a loved one may be self-isolating, and that there may be reduced
capacity to register and manage deaths as a result of pandemic-related
sickness absence.
The bill intends to make changes to:
-
mean a coroner is only to be notified where a doctor believes
there is no medical practitioner who may sign the death certificate, or
that they are not available within a reasonable time of the death
-
introduce powers to enable the provisions under the Burial and
Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 relating to the collection of ashes to be
suspended and replaced with a duty to retain until the suspension is
lifted, except where family wishes are known. Also, suspend an offence
in section 49 of the 2016 Act, allowing any relative of the deceased to
complete the cremation application form, regardless of the required
hierarchy set out by section 65 of the 2016 Act
-
expand the list of people who can register a death to include funeral directors acting on behalf of the family
-
enable electronic transmission of documents that currently have
to be physically presented in order to certify the registration of a
death
-
remove the need for a second confirmatory medical certificate in order for a cremation to take place
-
remove the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 requirement that any
inquest into a COVID-19 death must be held with a jury. Other notifiable
diseases will still require an inquest with a jury
-
suspend the referral of certificates to the Death Certification
Review Service (DCRS) for review in Scotland under the Certification of
Death (Scotland) Act 2011. The timing of the suspension to be at the
discretion of Scottish ministers
If the scientific advice indicates that the number of people who
might die from COVID-19 is likely to significantly exceed the capacity
locally to manage the deceased and other contingency measures have been
deployed, local government will have the ability to take control of a
component or components of the death management process in their area.
For example, local authorities may choose to direct local actors such
as funeral directors, mortuaries owners, crematoriums owners and
others, to streamline the death management process. This may include an
increase in the operating times of crematoriums, directing companies to
use their vehicles to move bodies, or directing others not directly
involved in the funeral sector, to provide necessary support.
Only in the most extreme situations where there is a risk to public
health would the powers of direction be used and only be used when
scientific evidence and operational advice suggests that it is
necessary. Activating the powers will ensure the local death management
system continues to work effectively to protect public health and the
dignity of the deceased. Personal choice will be respected as far as
possible, especially in regard to how we handle loved ones after they
have passed.
Protecting and supporting people
We are asking people to stay at home if they have a high temperature
or a new and continuous cough, or if anyone in their household has one
of those 2 symptoms. In the event of a wider outbreak of COVID-19, the
number of people that would be off work would increase significantly.
This would include those that were displaying-virus like symptoms and
those who were self-isolating as a precautionary measure.
We want to ensure the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provisions support
people in complying with this request and that they have retrospective
effect from 13 March 2020. By ensuring that people receive SSP from the
first day that they are off work, we will ensure that those who are
unwell or have been instructed to self-isolate can do so without the
fear of losing pay. This will be an important measure in the event of a
severe outbreak. By refunding small businesses, we hope to alleviate the
significant financial burden on employers through increased SSP costs.
The bill is therefore seeking to:
-
give the government the power to temporarily suspend the rule
that means SSP is not paid for the first 3 days of work that you miss
because of sickness. These days are known as waiting days. Lifting this
rule will enable us to respond quickly to an outbreak
-
enable employers with fewer than 250 employees to reclaim SSP
paid for sickness absences relating to coronavirus during the period of
the outbreak. This is because the government wants to ensure that
businesses are supported to deal with the temporary economic impacts of
an outbreak of coronavirus
-
require industry to provide information about food supplies, in
the event that an industry partner does not co-operate with our current
voluntary information-sharing arrangements during a period of potential
disruption
