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Local claimant counts
There was another sharp increase in the monthly ONS unemployed claimants in May 2020, although this was a slightly lower increase than in April. In the Hampshire Economic Area (Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton) the ONS monthly unemployed claimant count increased by 14,890 from 44,470 (April 2020) to 59,360 (May 2020). The level of claimants has not been higher since April 1994. The rate increased by 1.3 percentage points to 5.2% (in the Hampshire Economic Area), the highest rate since September 1994. The comparable UK rate is 6.4% and the South East region 5.4%. Portsmouth (7.2%), Southampton (7.0%), the Isle of Wight (7.0%) and Havant (6.6%) are individually each above both benchmarks.
HMRC data published in June shows that since the launch of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the UK Government has supported the wages of 267,200 jobs in Hampshire (including the two cities) for claims up to 31 May. For Hampshire, the numbers are 201,200 (CJRS) and 66,000 (SEISS). Widening this to Hampshire and Isle of Wight and the number is 288,700 - 216,600 (CJRS), 72,100 (SEISS). In the Hampshire county area 26.9% of employee residents were furloughed on the CJRS as at 31 May.
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Schools Catch Up Funding
The Prime Minister has announced a £1bn plan to help primary and secondary pupils catch up on what they have missed while schools have been closed. Further guidance relating to the funding is due to be published and Hampshire’s Inspection and Advisory Service will review this and work closely with schools to ensure they use the funding effectively to prioritise evidenced based interventions. The funding does not include support for early years education or post-16.
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Sir Harold Hillier Gardens
Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Romsey is preparing to welcome more visitors back as part of a phased re-opening. The first phase of the re-opening saw members welcomed back on 8 June via a pre-booking system to help avoid long queues and face-to-face payment transactions. Phase two will mean a limited number of online tickets will be available to the public from 22 June as well as the later, daily closing time of 6pm. Take-away refreshments will also be made available to visitors.
Several measures remain in place to maintain safe social distancing for staff and visitors. This includes reduced accessible parking, and, while some toilets will be open, the visitor pavilion, café, restaurant, gift shop, exhibition gallery and play areas remain closed until further notice.
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Supporting older residents
Hampshire County Council will promote a new animation across social media platforms this weekend as part of the ‘older people staying well at home’ campaign. The short video suggests ways that friends and family can support their older relatives and neighbours during the Covid-19 pandemic to stay well, keep hydrated and avoid falls. More information on staying well at home to avoid a hospital admission is available on the County Council’s website.
This animation is the second in the series; the first video launched in May and was aimed at adults aged over 60 years. This performed well with 69,605 video plays and 1,650 video watches at 75% (45 seconds).
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Hampshire Pride
June is Pride month, a month dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ communities around the world. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the celebration in Hampshire has moved online. The County Council’s active LGBT+ staff network continues to work and meet virtually to support the LGBT+ community and promote better equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender staff and service users.
Earlier this year, the LGBT+ staff network commissioned a Hampshire County Council branded Progress flag, to take to events and Prides. The Progress flag differs from the Pride flag as it includes an additional chevron along the hoist, which features stripes to represent people of colour, trans, people living with HIV/AIDS and others. This flag has been flown 'virtually' to celebrate inclusivity for all.
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Hampshire summer reading challenge
Hampshire Library Service has confirmed details of this year’s Summer Reading Challenge for children aged between 4-11 years. During the Covid-19 pandemic, reading at home has become ever more important and will help children stay ahead with their reading skills throughout the summer holidays. Silly Squad, which has been created by The Reading Agency, is designed to encourage children to read more books and have fun at the same time. Parents and children can find more details online and also sign up to the challenge.
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Commercial property sector
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has developed a new code of practice with leaders from the retail, hospitality and property sectors. The voluntary code encourages tenants to continue to pay their rent in full if they are in a position to do so and advises that others should pay what they can, whilst acknowledging that landlords should provide support to businesses if they are able to do so.
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Deferral of VAT payments
HMRC has updated the guidance on the temporary changes to the VAT payments to include information regarding ending the VAT deferral period.
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Dairy response fund
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has announced that the dairy response fund opened (18 June) for applications from eligible dairy farmers in need of support following the Covid-19 outbreak. The deadline for applications is 14 August.
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Covid “catch-up” package
The Government has announced a £1 billion Covid “catch-up” package which aims to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time. £650 million will be shared across state primary and secondary schools over the 2020/21 academic year, expected to be spent on small group tuition. Separately, a National Tutoring Programme, worth £350 million, will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people over the 2020/21 academic year.
The Education Endowment Foundation has also published a guide to help school leaders decide how to use the funding to best support their pupils and their outcomes.
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Guidance for parents and carers
The Department for Education has published information for parents and carers about the opening of early years providers, schools and colleges, safety in schools, attendance, transport, school meals and exams.
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Adults' social care and public health
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UK alert level
The Chief Medical Officers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have reviewed the evidence from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and have agreed with the recommendation to move from Level 4 (Covid-19 epidemic is in general circulation; transmission is high or rising exponentially) to Level 3 (Covid-19 epidemic is in general circulation) across the UK.
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NHS Covid-19 app
The Government has confirmed the next phase of development in building an app that supports the end-to-end NHS Test and Trace service. Following the trial of the NHSX app on the Isle of Wight, challenges with both app and the Google/Apple framework have been identified. The focus of work is to shift from the current app design to work instead with Google and Apple to use their solution.
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NHS test and trace statistics
Experimental statistics from the NHS test and trace service and related documents have been published up to 10 June. Between 4 -10 June, 5,949 people who tested positive had their case transferred to the contact tracing system. Of these, 4,366 people (73.4%) were reached and asked to provide details of recent close contacts. As a result of this, 44,895 people were identified as close contacts, of which 40,690 people (90.6%) were reached and asked to self-isolate.
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ONS descriptive overview of deaths
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published a descriptive overview of deaths related to Covid-19 among people identifying by religion group, ethnic group and disability status.
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ADASS budget survey
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has published their second report into the impact of the pandemic on adult social care. The report focuses on the scale of the financial impact of Covid-19, including the consequences on those receiving care on council finances and on the viability of care providers.
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Death of an employee or volunteer in adult social care
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued guidance on the actions for local authorities and social care providers following a Covid-19 related death of an employee or volunteer in adult social care.
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Reducing risk
A framework for how adult social care employers should assess and reduce risk to their workforce during the Covid-19 pandemic has been published by the DHSC.
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Epidemiology surveillance summary
Public Health England has published the weekly Covid-19 epidemiology surveillance summary. The report includes data from a variety of different sources: community, primary care, secondary care, virology and mortality surveillance data. Combined, these sources show a wider community picture including a breakdown by age, gender, and geography which will help plan the national response to the pandemic and assist regional stakeholders in local planning.
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Sewage treatment plants
The Environment Agency has confirmed that guidance is being issued to industry bodies about restarting sewage treatment plants.
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Latest R number range
0.7-0.9 (19 June)
The reproduction number (R) is the average number of secondary infections produced by 1 infected person.
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Cases
As of 4pm on 18 June, the total number of lab-confirmed cases was 300,469. The daily number of lab-confirmed cases was 1,218. The total number of Covid-19 associated deaths was 42,288, with 135 new deaths reported on the day. The data is available to view online.
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