Coronavirus: Council employees prepare to 'work more from home' in East Sussex

Council employees in East Sussex are being encouraged to prepare to work more from home ‘should they need to’, two authorities have confirmed. Both Wealden District Council and Hastings Borough Council have confirmed they are considering authorising staff to work from home more often, should the coronavirus outbreak become more widespread. A Hastings Borough Council spokesman said: "Our most recent all staff bulletin flagged up the value of home working as a way of helping the council to continue to deliver critical services for the community, during an escalation of the coronavirus situation. "We have very well developed IT systems. This means that the public can access most of our services online, rather than visiting our offices. "It also means that it is far easier for staff to work from home, with full access to all of the software applications they use in the office. "Homeworking is already a routine feature of service delivery for many council staff. "This has enabled us to significantly reduce the amount of office space we need, resulting in significant savings over the last few years." The council spokesman goes on to say the authority would authorise staff to work from home more “if the need arises”. The spokesman said such circumstances would include a staff member needing to self-isolate due to contact with a confirmed case, needing to provide childcare due to temporary school closures or if they were showing cold symptoms, which could be Covid-19. Meanwhile Wealden District Council has confirmed it is is encouraging staff to take home their laptops at night and ensure they are able to work from home if needed. The council says it has also begun providing antibacterial hand gel and wipes to office staff, is encouraging staff to follow government hygiene advice and had instructed its cleaning contractor to undertake additional cleaning. A Wealden District Council spokesman said: "Public Health England (PHE) are the authority leading on the UK’s response to coronavirus – so actions of councils are guided by their advice. "We have signposted to PHE information on our website following a number of enquiries from residents. "We continue to monitor the situation and the advice given by PHE, and we’re also using our social media and internal communications platforms to share PHE and NHS advice on coronavirus with our residents and staff." However, East Sussex County Council says it has not taken steps to encourage home working, although confirmed it is keeping its staffing arrangements ‘under review’. The authority also says it has stepped up cleaning in its offices and is providing hand gel in parts of its buildings. Rother District Council (which shares its communications staff with the county council) was taking the same precautions, the spokesman said. East Sussex director of public health Darrell Gale said: "We’re in constant contact with the Government and Public Health England, and are working together to follow their national guidance. "We are directing schools to Government guidance that anyone who has returned from areas where cases of the virus have been confirmed, and has developed a cough, fever or shortness of breath, should stay at home, avoid contact with others and call NHS 111. "We’ve made sure specific guidance for care staff is widely shared among our colleagues and we’re keeping our own staffing arrangements under review as the situation develops." They have encouraged people to check the latest NHS guidance at nhs.uk/coronavirus. (By Huw Oxburgh - Local Democracy Reporter)

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