‘Dear Local Business Owner,

Firstly, I want to thank you for adhering to the government guidance. This has been a key factor in enabling a wider group of businesses in Oxfordshire to re-open.

I am writing to you now to remind you of the important role you continue to play in helping businesses to remain open, to outline some of the most relevant guidance and to provide information on access to testing and advice.

It is vitally important that you and your staff continue to follow government guidelines on social distancing and good hand hygiene as this has shown to be effective in limiting the spread of coronavirus in the population. The following link provides guidance on how a range of different workplaces can be adapted to make them safe for staff and customers.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19

We would like to encourage everyone who has symptoms of coronavirus to access testing, so that we can identify as many cases as possible and therefore reduce the risk of local outbreaks. Your support in encouraging staff to do this would be much appreciated. The link below provides information on how to get a test.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/ask-for-a-test-to-check-if-you-have-coronavirus/

As an employer you may become aware of cases of coronavirus in your workplace. If this should happen, you should encourage your workers to heed any notifications to self-isolate, so that the risk to your workplace is reduced. The latest guidance is available at the following link. See the section on Guidance for employers which includes information on Statutory Sick Pay.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-test-and-trace-workplace-guidance

If multiple cases of coronavirus appear in your workplace (2 or more cases would be considered an outbreak), you should contact the local health protection team to report this and if necessary, an outbreak control team from either the local authority or Public Health England (PHE) will be assigned to help you with advice & support based on your specific circumstances.

The Local PHE team is PHE Thames Valley
Phone: 0344 225 3861, Email: tvphe@phe.gov.uk

I am conscious that the next few weeks and months will be very different to our normal routines and would like to thank you in advance for your ongoing support to ensure we can all contribute to the recovery of the sector.




Yours sincerely