Message from the Managing Director

22 December 2021 

Dear colleagues, 

As you will all be well aware our position as a Council has for some time been that all staff should work from home wherever possible. This has not changed but as the Welsh Government has introduced new rules this week stating that people must work from home where reasonably practicable for them to do so, I thought it may be helpful to clarify our current guidance to staff. 

Working from home is the most effective way of minimising the risk of exposure to coronavirus in workplaces and has proved effective at slowing the transmission of the virus over the past 20 months. Council staff should only be working from one of our office buildings or another fixed location if there is a clearly demonstrated business need for them to do so. All managers should be able to set out the rationale for any members of their teams that are currently working in one of our buildings.

The Welsh Government guidance has been used to update the Council’s guidance.

As an organisation we are committed to enable home working wherever possible and so if you have any queries about how this could apply to your role you should speak to your manager. If managers or staff have concerns about the impact of home working on either their own or a colleague’s well-being then they should also speak to their line manager.

In the event that there is a sound business reason for meetings to be held face to face then these should be conducted in line with the latest guidance from Welsh Government and our internal office working guidance. Under the new Welsh Government rules both individuals and employers can be fined for not taking steps to work from home if it is possible to do so. A template letter is available for those staff who are required to travel for work. This can be downloaded from the staff guidance updates section on StaffNet+. 

If you are required to work from one of our buildings or attend a face to face meeting you should take a lateral flow test prior to arriving. Regular testing is vital to preventing disruption to our services, as it allows cases to be caught early before they spread throughout our workforce, leading to staff sickness absence or self-isolation.

The Council’s frontline social care staff along with teaching staff and other colleagues working in schools have been using LFD tests and recording their results for some time and all staff can now order LFD test kits directly from the PPE Team.

Welsh Government rules on self-isolation have also changed today. All over 18s who are fully vaccinated and children aged 5 to 17 are now asked to take lateral flow tests every day for 7 days if they are contacts of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. They do not need to self-isolate unless they have a positive lateral flow test or develop symptoms. In either of these cases, they should book a PCR test as soon as possible.

Anyone who meets the above criteria and is currently isolating as a contact can stop and use daily lateral flow tests instead. This includes anyone isolating as a contact of a confirmed or suspected Omicron case.

You can find more information about changes and updates to working arrangements on StaffNet+. 

Cofion,

Rob.