Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Our Business West Sussex website provides COVID-19 related:

• business support and advice
• information about grants and funding
• workplace guidance.

Suppliers

We have introduced measures to offer financial support for suppliers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Providers

If you are a provider who is struggling to get supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), see Emergency PPE request.

Advice for food businesses

If you are operating a food business, please see our range of relevant government information and guidance:

• Guidance for food businesses on coronavirus (COVID-19) (GOV.UK)
• General information for factories, plants and warehouses on working safely during COVID-19 (GOV.UK)
• Guidance for people who work in or run outdoor working environments (GOV.UK)
• Guidance for people who work in or from vehicles (GOV.UK)
• General information for those employing seasonal workers to pick fruit and vegetables (GOV.UK)
• Posters that might be useful for display in your workplace

Advice for restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars and takeaways

If you are operating a restaurant, cafe, pub, bar or takeaways, please make sure you are following the government information and guidance.

It may be necessary to adjust your service to minimise staff contact with customers. Indoor table service must be used where possible, alongside further measures, such as assigning a single staff member per table. Outdoor table service should also be encouraged.

Staff and customers should be given access to use hand sanitiser or hand washing facilities as they enter the premises. Suitable handwashing facilities, including running water and liquid soap and suitable options for drying (either paper towels or hand driers) should also be available.

It is also critically important that you keep a temporary record of contact details for customers and visitors to your establishment for 21 days. A template is available to support you and can be accessed in our Test and Trace section below.

Useful workplace action cards have also been introduced by Public Health England, which give advice on what to do in the event of an outbreak.

Advice for tourism or leisure businesses

If you are operating a tourism or leisure business, please make sure you are following the Government information and guidance.

• Guidance for people who work in hotels and guest accommodation, indoor and outdoor attractions and business events and consumer shows
• Guidance and advice for those providing hotel and other accommodation in England
• Guidance for managing beaches, the countryside and coastal areas
• Business support including what businesses should be closed
• Guidance on re-opening business safely, including links to the HSE risk assessment template and guidance
• You can also access a range of resources available to download and print from Public Health England.

Useful workplace action cards have also been introduced by Public Health England, which give advice on what to do in the event of an outbreak.

Government advice

The Government is providing up-to-date guidance for employees, employers and businesses through Coronavirus (COVID-19) Business support.

It has also launched a package of measures to support businesses and the self-employed through the impact of COVID-19. For example, you can check if you can claim a grant through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.

GOV.UK also has the latest guidance on the delivery of care for supported living and home care.

Social care, community care or residential settings should also follow Public Health England's hygiene and prevention advice.

Test and Trace - keeping contact details of staff, customers and visitors

The government website offers guidance on maintaining records of staff, customers and visitors to support NHS Test and Trace. You can use our templates either digitally, or to download and print. This will ensure you keep accurate contact detail records as these will support contact tracing if it becomes necessary.

• Test and Trace contact details collection form - digital version (Excel, 66KB)
• Test and Trace contact details collection form - print version (PDF, 84KB)

Protect your visitors and staff

Certain West Sussex venues and businesses are legally required to display NHS QR code posters from 24 September 2020.

We are therefore encouraging ALL businesses and organisations with a physical location open to the public to create official NHS QR code posters to display at their venue entrances. This will help support contact tracing.

NHS COVID-19 app users will be able to scan the poster as they enter a venue. This means that if people visit your venue and later test positive for coronavirus, other app users who were there at the same time may be sent an alert, if local public health teams think this is necessary.

The app notification will not mention the name of your venue, it will just let app users know that they may have come into contact with coronavirus and provide them with public health advice.

What you need to know:

• The app launches nationally on Thursday 24 September.
• It is also a legal requirement from Friday 18 September for certain businesses to collect NHS Test and Trace data.
• You should create and display a QR code if you are a business or community organisation with a physical location that is open to the public.
• If you have more than one venue, you need to create a separate QR code for each location.

To create your NHS QR code poster, you will need:

• the address details for each of your venues
• your email address
• an email address and contact phone number for each of your locations (for example, contact details of a store manager if that’s not you).

See GOV.UK to find out how to create your NHS QR code poster.