Key workers include individuals who work within:
Health and social care Education and childcare
• • • • • • •
Key public services
Local and national government Food and other necessary goods Public safety and national security
Transport
• Utilities, communication and financial services
Children whose parents work in one of these critical sectors and cannot be kept safe at home whilst their parents carry out their jobs, will be prioritised for the purposes of education provision.
Update: After contacting the Department for Education directly, the CIPP can confirm that payroll professionals are undoubtedly classified as key workers.
CIPP comment
Within the definition of ‘Utilities, communication and financial services’, it states that this is inclusive of ‘payments providers’. This is a relatively broad statement, so the CIPP considers whether this refers to payment services providers, who support the UK payments infrastructure, e.g. BACS, or does it seek to incorporate the wider population of payroll professionals? The work of payroll professionals will be imperative throughout the outbreak of coronavirus in ensuring that staff up and down the country receive their pay, correctly and on time. The CIPP will be lobbying to ensure that the importance of the payroll profession is known, and how it will be particularly integral to supporting the country’s economy, and its people, over the coming weeks and months. Update: It has been confirmed that payroll professionals are been classified as key workers. This is in recognition of the fundamental role that they will play throughout the duration of the coronavirus outbreak in terms of ensuring that Britain continues to be paid, both accurately and on time.
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Face to face interviews suspended for sickness and disability claimants for three months 20 March 2020
Face-to-face interviews and assessments for all sickness and disability benefits will be suspended for the next three months, effective from 17 March.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) continue to release updates in response to Coronavirus COVID-19. This temporary move, effective from Tuesday 17 March 2020, is being taken as a precautionary measure to protect vulnerable people from unnecessary risk of exposure to coronavirus as the country’s response ramps up in the ‘delay’ phase.
It will affect claimants of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), those on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and some on Universal Credit, and recipients of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
The suspension of face-to-face assessments also covers new claims to those benefits.
Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey said:
“As we move into the next phase of our response to coronavirus, it is right we take steps to protect those with health problems.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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