The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are:

• recent onset of a new continuous cough, or;
• a high temperature (higher than 37.8), or;
• a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia).

For the latest government advice, please refer to the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Pennon is asking all employees to follow the government advice on self-isolation.

Report your absence in the normal way – following the group absence reporting process:

Group Absence Reporting Process

• You should stay at home and self-isolate
• do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital
• you do not need to contact 111 to tell them you’re staying at home
• testing for coronavirus is not needed if you’re staying at home

If you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home, or your condition gets worse, or your symptoms do not get better after 7 days, then use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service. If you do not have internet access, call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999

Visit https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus for the latest advice.

In addition, report your absence in the normal way – following the group absence reporting process:

Group Absence Reporting Process

For the latest advice about travelling abroad, go to GOV.UK foreign travel advice. You should speak to your line manager and HR/ER business partner to get advice before travelling.

If an employee has agreed to work at an alternative base location for a temporary period as part of Coronavirus (COVID-19) contingency planning, they may submit an expense claim (in line with the applicable Expenses Policy & Procedure).

Self-isolation means you should:

• stay at home and not go to work, school or public areas
• not use public transport or taxis
• ask friends, family members or delivery services to carry out errands for you
• try to avoid visitors to your home – it's OK for friends, family or delivery drivers to drop off food, but they should leave it outside for you to collect.
• Visit https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus for the latest advice

If there's a chance you could have coronavirus, call 111 and isolate yourself from other people.

This means you should:

•  stay at home
•  not go to work, school or public areas
•  not use public transport or taxis
•  ask friends, family members or delivery services to carry out errands for you
•  try to avoid visitors to your home - its OK for friends, family or delivery drivers to drop off food

You may need to do this for up to 14 days to help reduce the possible spread of infection.

Pennon is asking all employees to follow the government advice on self-isolation

Visit www.gov.co.uk for the latest advice

People unable to work for more than seven days because of coronavirus (COVID-19) can obtain an isolation note through a new online service.

The notes can be accessed through the NHS website and NHS 111 online. After answering a few questions, an isolation note will be emailed to the user. If they don’t have an email address, they can have the note sent to a trusted family member or friend, or directly to their employer. The service can also be used to generate an isolation note on behalf of someone else.

If you are pregnant you have been identified in the ‘at risk’ category by the Government you should, as a priority:

• Speak to your line manager to discuss your working arrangements.
• Log details of your condition with the Occupational Health team. All contact with the Occupational Health team will be kept in the strictest confidence

Employees who have a long-term chronic health condition (such heart disease, lung disease, cancer or diabetes) and / or take immunosuppressant medication and would like to discuss their health concerns regarding Coronavirus COVID-19 with Occupational Health please email OHadvice@pennon-group.co.uk.

Anyone who is:

• Aged 70 or older (regardless of medical conditions)
• under 70 with an underlying health condition listed below (ie anyone instructed to get a flu jab as an adult each year on medical grounds):
• chronic (long-term) respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema or bronchitis
• chronic heart disease, such as heart failure
• chronic kidney disease
• chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis
• chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a learning disability or cerebral palsy
• diabetes
• problems with your spleen – for example, sickle cell disease or if you have had your spleen removed
• a weakened immune system as the result of conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy
• being seriously overweight (a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or above)
• those who are pregnant

Visit www.gov.co.uk for the latest advice

Pennon have put in a process for assessing those staff that are critical to the delivery of essential services to our customers and and are within the list for high risk employees. You should speak to your line manager to assess your needs and define the next steps.

If you are one of the individuals highlighted in the ‘at risk’ category by the Government you should, as a priority:

• Speak to your line manager to discuss your working arrangements.
• Log details of your condition with the Occupational Health team. All contact with the Occupational Health team will be kept in the strictest confidence

You should speak with your line manager.

Guidance on Extremely Vulnerable Health People and Shielding

Guidance on Increased Risk health Issues and social distancing

Please refer to the link below from the UK government which will give you guidance on how to wear and make a cloth face covering:

How to wear and make a cloth face covering

The public must wear face coverings when using Public Transport.

If you can, you are advised to wear face coverings in any enclosed space

For more information, please visit gov.uk

Face coverings are mandatory while using public transport in England.

To help keep yourself and your fellow passengers safe, you should not travel if you:

• are experiencing any coronavirus symptoms
• are self-isolating as a result of coronavirus symptoms or sharing a household with somebody with symptoms
• are clinically extremely vulnerable

If you have any symptoms of coronavirus you should self-isolate at home and arrange to have a test to see if you have COVID-19.

Before you travel, consider if your journey is necessary and if you can, stay local. Try to reduce your travel. This will help keep the transport network running and allow people who need to make essential journeys to travel. You can reduce your travel by:

• working from home where possible
• shopping less frequently and shopping locally

Please practise social distancing and avoid hand shakes.

Guidance for dealing with staff that may be affected by Coronavirus COVID-19 is available on https://www.homesafe-me.co.uk/coronavirus/general-advice/managers/

There is still a risk of falling on stairs, so to ensure your safety, you should continue to hold the handrail whilst using the stairs. Then, in order to reduce the risk of hand contamination after contact with the handrail, it is recommended that you wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, in line with NHS guidance. This will remove or kill any viral contamination which may have been picked up.

Also, to reduce the risk of viral contamination from handrails and other frequently touched areas, such as door handles, we have implemented an enhanced cleaning and disinfection routine for all frequent hand contact areas throughout our premises which are cleaned on a regular basis.

Although there has been some relaxing of Lockdown measures, if you can work from home then you should continue to do so.

For the latest government advice on key workers, please see the link below and speak to your line manager:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision?fbclid=IwAR2GTZ7lMEl-3GA-5YpoB236dWOntg4AFsbjVjanLo_mD_oJ2iiouo8yOWk

Please see the documents below regarding Cleaning Company premises:

Deep Cleaning and Sanitation Guidance

General Cleaning Guidance

We have created a Manager Hub and Employee Hub on the Home safe-me website.

All the relevant information will be added to this site, along with other useful links e.g. Gov.Uk & NHS111

Interim WFH arrangements can be found here

Any employee who wishes to adopt the homeworking approach during the COVID-19 event should discuss the feasibility with their line manager and ensure that they have the appropriate means to work from home. If an employee is unable to work from home but is concerned about the impacts of COVID-19 they should speak with their line manager as soon as possible.

The agreement for homeworking is to support the government’s response to COVID-19 and is therefore a temporary measure. You will be informed by your line manager when the business has returned to normal operations.

Please contact Pennon’s Press Office via email to pressoffice@pennon-group.co.uk

No, any sickness absense confirmed as Coronavirus (COVID-19) will not be counted for the purpose of ill health capability processes.

Visit www.homesafe-me.co.uk for the latest company news regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19). The site can be accessed from work or personal devices.

Employees should report their absence due to self-isolation in line with their normal absence process. Please see document below for sickness absence reporting:

Group Absence Reporting Process

With immediate effect employees will, at this time, also be required to contact their line manager directly if their process doesn’t currently require this.

We have updated our absence reasons to include:

• Self-Isolation – If you have no symptoms
• Suspected Coronavirus – If you have symptoms (no matter how mild)
• Confirmed Coronavirus. – If you have been tested

This will help the company monitor, plan and take appropriate action to support employees and minimise the impact on the company and our customers.

Both Sickness absence and self-isolation should be reported in line with normal absence process. Please see below for sickness absence reporting:

Group Absence Reporting Process

We have updated our absence reasons to include

• Self-Isolation
• Suspected Coronavirus
• Confirmed Coronavirus.

This will help the company monitor, plan and take appropriate action to support employees and minimise the impact on the company and our customers.

Keeping in touch with your employee throughout their absence will ensure you are able to provide appropriate support to them as well as being able to manage cover for their work.

Guidance on this can be found below:

Group Absence Reporting Process

During any sustained period away from work, it is important that you have an initial conversation with the employee and agree when and how you will keep in touch.

If a member of your team is in self-isolation it is recommended that as a minimum you contact them on the first day of self-isolation and the every 3 to 4 days.

If a member of your team is hospitalised, please contact the ER team.

Guidance on this can be found below on sickness absence reporting:

Group Absence Reporting Process

For some people self-isolation can be boring or frustrating, which may impact their mood and feelings and disrupt sleeping. Advice from the NHS can be found on the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-advice/

In addition, you should remind all employees of the EAP service.

Employees should report their sickness absence in line with normal absence process. Please see below for sickness absence reporting:

Group Absence Reporting Process

With immediate effect employees will, at this time, also be required to contact their line manager directly if their process doesn’t currently require this.

We have updated our absence reasons to include

• Self-Isolation
• Suspected Coronavirus
• Confirmed Coronavirus.

This will help the company monitor, plan and take appropriate action to support employees and minimise the impact on the company and our customers.

The government has set out its plan to return life to as near normal as we can, for as many people as we can, as quickly and fairly as possible in order to safeguard livelihoods, but in a way that is safe and continues to protect our NHS.

Please see below for the latest government advice for England on what you can and cannot do:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland may have different approaches to the current guidance. 

For guidance in England, the full range of information is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

For specific guidance outside of England, this is available here: 

Scotland 

Wales 

Northern Ireland