At Royds Withy King we are still able to serve all your legal needs during the Coronavirus pandemic. Find out more.
Posted by James Sage, Partner
Contributing authors: Hazel Phillips and Mei-Ling Huang
2020 has been one of the most traumatic years for the social care sector in living memory. Whilst its impact will be long felt, care providers will be looking for clarity, security and a return to normality in 2021.
Posted by James Sage, Partner
Contributing authors: Hazel Phillips and Mei-Ling Huang
It feels like a long time since March. During the first wave, care services were put under unprecedented pressures. Now that the second wave is upon us, our Health & Social Care team is providing an update on the state of play in key areas.
Posted by James Sage, Partner
The Government has announced a new national lockdown for England from 5 November to 2 December which has led to significant changes to the employment support schemes available to employers.
Posted by Zoe Pettigrew, Solicitor
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued its final guidance on care contracts’ consumer law compliance and consumer law obligations in November 2018 (Guidance).
Posted by Zoe Pettigrew, Solicitor
The Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund (“Fund”) was set up in May 2020 to support adult social care providers to reduce the rate of Covid-19 transmissions – particularly relating to reducing the need for movement of staff between different sites.
Posted by James Sage, Partner
A flurry of recent court rulings on compliance with the National Minimum Wage (“NMW”) highlight the complexity of this area of law and the need for care providers to check their pay arrangements are compliant.
Posted by James Sage, Partner
A recent study by the Daily Express indicated that there has been a significant increase (66%) in complaints made by care staff to CQC during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the majority of concerns raised relating to infection control, social distancing and a lack of PPE.
Posted by James Sage, Partner
From 1 August, the Government “paused” shielding for the clinically extremely vulnerable. Shielding employees can return to work if their workplace is “Covid-secure” but should work from home wherever possible.
Posted by Hazel Phillips, Partner
Following on from her blog about rights and responsibilities for care home visits during Covid, partner and co-head of Health & Social Care team Hazel Phillips is highlighting some of the issues that arise when considering visits to supported living settings.
Posted by Hazel Phillips, Partner
With many care homes starting to think about opening up to visitors again, it is important that operators strike the right balance between their legal responsibilities to safeguard their staff and residents and the rights of their residents and families.
Posted by Mei-Ling Huang, Partner
The Coronavirus has challenged us like nothing before and the operational strain is more than anyone should have to bear. Unfortunately, the legal reverberations from this pandemic could go on for some time, even after we have controlled the spread of the virus.
Posted by James Sage, Partner
With approximately 8.4m jobs furloughed, roughly ¼ of the total jobs in the UK, and 1m employers furloughing, costing the Government £15bn, it was inevitable that some changes would have to be made to the furlough scheme. However, the announcements are less draconian than many had feared.