Care Home Workers & Mandatory Vaccinations: The New Regulations
On the 13th of July 2021, Greece and France made COVID vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers, following the precedent set by Italy. Now, the UK is the next to make the COVID vaccine mandatory for workers in Care Quality Commission-registered homes.
Until recently the UK authorities have not made the Covid-19 vaccination compulsory for any citizens, however on the 22nd of July 2021, regulations were approved in relation to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 . The Act makes it compulsory for a person working or providing professional services in Care Quality Commission-registered care homes to be fully Covid-19 vaccinated, unless they have a medical exemption. The purpose of this regulation, which will only apply to England and come into force on the 11th of November 2021, is to better protect care home residents from death and serious illness.
This regulation will apply to all workers employed directly by the care home or care home provider (on a full-time or part-time basis), those employed by an agency and deployed by the care home, and volunteers deployed in the care home. Those coming into care homes to do other work, for example healthcare workers, tradespeople, hairdressers and beauticians, and CQC inspectors will also have to follow the new regulations, unless they have a medical exemption. The clinical exemption will be clarified in the Code of Practice that will be issued to accompany the Regulations at the end of July 2021. The regulations do not apply to visitors of care homes.
There will be a 16 week grace period from the 22nd of July for all care home workers to be vaccinated, with the 16th of September being the last date for care workers to get their first vaccine so they are fully vaccinated before regulations come into force. The government estimates that by the time the vaccine becomes compulsory, approximately 87% of the workforce will have received both doses.
Employers that fall under these new regulations are highly advised to start putting measures in place so as the regulations can be implementded by 11 November. The steps should include introducing a Covid-19 Vaccination Policy, which includes the medical exemptions that will be acceptable and evidential requirements. The policy should be introduced after discussion with staff. If employees/workers are still reluctant to have the Covid-19 vaccine then you will need to take steps to look at whether they can be redeployed to other areas of the business or even dismissal. Employers forced to dismiss an employee in this circumstance should do so before 11 November 2021, being mindful of any notice periods.
Bright Contracts has recently been updated to include a vaccine policy which covers these consideration points for our customers to include in their employee handbooks, which can be found under the terms and conditions tab. If you wish to download a trial of the software to have a look at a sample of this content, you can download the software here.
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