Covid and Work, Covid Advice and General Chat

JRT

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256
Covid shielders like me need a mayor to fight our corner

Frances Ryan

The government hasn’t just abandoned northern England in lockdown – people at high risk have been left without adequate support

Coronavirus – latest updates

See all our coronavirus coverage

17

Published:12:33 Wed 21 October 2020

Follow Frances Ryan

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‘Just as the long-forgotten Midlands and the tNh enorth are being left to fend for themselves as the virus spreads, people dealing with chronic illness and disability are an easy sacrifice to make.’ A coronavirus sign in Sheffield as it goes into tier-3 restrictions. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

As coronavirus cases rise, headlines are dominated by northern leaders being forced by central government to accept inadequate financial aid packages. This is a shameful dereliction of duty by the Tories and is rightly attracting ire, both from regional mayors and the press. And yet it is striking that a similar thing is being done to another group – shielders – but with even less attention. New guidance for shielding for people at high risk because of underlying health conditions was released by the government last week, but without even a small offer of financial support. The new guidance advises “vulnerable people” in high alert areas to stay at home as much as possible, but offers no support to help them cope with paying the bills or accessing food and medicine. Even in the highest alert areas, if shielders are unable to do their jobs at home, the guidance only says they “may” be eligible for some benefits.
What’s happening to people with underlying health conditions and communities in the Midlands and north are not two separate issues but clearly overlap. Boris Johnson’s second-wave strategy is consistent: restrict people’s livelihoods but offer little or no government funds to survive that. With state support schemes closed, shielders in locked-down Leicester are surviving on food brought by volunteers. Class status is also linked to disability: disabled people are more likely to be in poverty, poor housing and insecure jobs.
Many high-risk employees are terrified of being at work: teachers with low immunity back in packed classrooms and temp workers with asthma forced to get on a busy bus because they have no car. Others have been stuck in their homes for eight months with next to no recognition of what this is doing to their mental health or day to day lives. It is striking that when the psychological impact of lockdown is discussed, there is little mention of the mental health of shielders – the group that is more isolated than any other and in some cases, shut away all year.

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None of this is about calling for the blanket reintroduction of lockdown, but recognising that inadequate support is putting people at risk. Giving clinically vulnerable people guidance to stay at home is little help if it doesn’t come with the practical, psychological and financial support to help them do so. It is not difficult to understand that if a virus means some people need to stay indoors indefinitely, practical questions will need answering. Can I access food? Will I lose my job? How can I safely have human contact?
Similarly, it was not hard for ministers to predict that existing inequalities experienced by disabled people would lead them to be more vulnerable to the pandemic’s fallout. That a quarter of disabled workers fear they’ll lose their job during the crisis is all the worse considering how much harder it is for disabled people to be hired. Meanwhile, disabled women are twice as likely to suffer domestic violence than women without disabilities but they haven’t even been mentioned as abuse rocketed during lockdown.
I can’t help but long for a mayor of high-risk people to fight our corner. The steps ministers should take are clear enough: extend the furlough scheme for people who are high risk and unable to work from home; ensure that workplace health and safety measures are enforced stringently; help people get deliveries of essential items, such as food and medicines; work to ensure the health and care services disabled people rely on don’t shut down as cases rise; provide better and more accessible communication of information, including for those without the internet, an easy read format for learning disabled people, and signers for deaf viewers.
Johnson’s failure to piece any of this together is a reflection of the limitations of Tory small state ideology in dealing with a pandemic, but also a sign of their ease at abandoning ignored communities. Just as the long-forgotten Midlands and the hnorth are being left to fend for themselves as the virus spreads, people dealing with chronic illness and disability are an easy sacrifice to make. There is not only a sense of the government leaving parts of the public to fend for themselves, but of reneging on a deal: people sacrificed seeing their family and risked their jobs, yet ministers have still not provided a functioning test-and-trace system or financial packages. High-risk communities are more than doing our part. It’s time the government did the same.
• Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist

News is under threat ...

...just when we need it the most. Millions of readers around the world are flocking to the Guardian in search of honest, authoritative, fact-based reporting that can help them understand the biggest challenge we have faced in our lifetime. But at this crucial moment, news organisations are facing an unprecedented existential challenge. As businesses everywhere feel the pinch, the advertising revenue that has long helped sustain our journalism continues to plummet. We need your help to fill the gap.
We believe every one of us deserves equal access to quality news and measured explanation. So, unlike many others, we made a different choice: to keep Guardian journalism open for all, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. This would not be possible without financial contributions from our readers, who now support our work from 180 countries around the world.
We have upheld our editorial independence in the face of the disintegration of traditional media – with social platforms giving rise to misinformation, the seemingly unstoppable rise of big tech and independent voices being squashed by commercial ownership. The Guardian’s independence means we can set our own agenda and voice our own opinions. Our journalism is free from commercial and political bias – never influenced by billionaire owners or shareholders. This makes us different. It means we can challenge the powerful without fear and give a voice to those less heard.
Reader financial support has meant we can keep investigating, disentangling and interrogating. It has protected our independence, which has never been so critical. We are so grateful.
We need your support so we can keep delivering quality journalism that’s open and independent. And that is here for the long term. Subscribe to the Premium App to access extra features for £5.99 per month. Thank you.

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JRT

Well-Known Member
Messages
256
Covid shielders like me need a mayor to fight our corner

Frances Ryan

The government hasn’t just abandoned northern England in lockdown – people at high risk have been left without adequate support

Coronavirus – latest updates

See all our coronavirus coverage

17

Published:12:33 Wed 21 October 2020

Follow Frances Ryan

[https://i]

‘Just as the long-forgotten Midlands and the tNh enorth are being left to fend for themselves as the virus spreads, people dealing with chronic illness and disability are an easy sacrifice to make.’ A coronavirus sign in Sheffield as it goes into tier-3 restrictions. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

As coronavirus cases rise, headlines are dominated by northern leaders being forced by central government to accept inadequate financial aid packages. This is a shameful dereliction of duty by the Tories and is rightly attracting ire, both from regional mayors and the press. And yet it is striking that a similar thing is being done to another group – shielders – but with even less attention. New guidance for shielding for people at high risk because of underlying health conditions was released by the government last week, but without even a small offer of financial support. The new guidance advises “vulnerable people” in high alert areas to stay at home as much as possible, but offers no support to help them cope with paying the bills or accessing food and medicine. Even in the highest alert areas, if shielders are unable to do their jobs at home, the guidance only says they “may” be eligible for some benefits.
What’s happening to people with underlying health conditions and communities in the Midlands and north are not two separate issues but clearly overlap. Boris Johnson’s second-wave strategy is consistent: restrict people’s livelihoods but offer little or no government funds to survive that. With state support schemes closed, shielders in locked-down Leicester are surviving on food brought by volunteers. Class status is also linked to disability: disabled people are more likely to be in poverty, poor housing and insecure jobs.
Many high-risk employees are terrified of being at work: teachers with low immunity back in packed classrooms and temp workers with asthma forced to get on a busy bus because they have no car. Others have been stuck in their homes for eight months with next to no recognition of what this is doing to their mental health or day to day lives. It is striking that when the psychological impact of lockdown is discussed, there is little mention of the mental health of shielders – the group that is more isolated than any other and in some cases, shut away all year.

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None of this is about calling for the blanket reintroduction of lockdown, but recognising that inadequate support is putting people at risk. Giving clinically vulnerable people guidance to stay at home is little help if it doesn’t come with the practical, psychological and financial support to help them do so. It is not difficult to understand that if a virus means some people need to stay indoors indefinitely, practical questions will need answering. Can I access food? Will I lose my job? How can I safely have human contact?
Similarly, it was not hard for ministers to predict that existing inequalities experienced by disabled people would lead them to be more vulnerable to the pandemic’s fallout. That a quarter of disabled workers fear they’ll lose their job during the crisis is all the worse considering how much harder it is for disabled people to be hired. Meanwhile, disabled women are twice as likely to suffer domestic violence than women without disabilities but they haven’t even been mentioned as abuse rocketed during lockdown.
I can’t help but long for a mayor of high-risk people to fight our corner. The steps ministers should take are clear enough: extend the furlough scheme for people who are high risk and unable to work from home; ensure that workplace health and safety measures are enforced stringently; help people get deliveries of essential items, such as food and medicines; work to ensure the health and care services disabled people rely on don’t shut down as cases rise; provide better and more accessible communication of information, including for those without the internet, an easy read format for learning disabled people, and signers for deaf viewers.
Johnson’s failure to piece any of this together is a reflection of the limitations of Tory small state ideology in dealing with a pandemic, but also a sign of their ease at abandoning ignored communities. Just as the long-forgotten Midlands and the hnorth are being left to fend for themselves as the virus spreads, people dealing with chronic illness and disability are an easy sacrifice to make. There is not only a sense of the government leaving parts of the public to fend for themselves, but of reneging on a deal: people sacrificed seeing their family and risked their jobs, yet ministers have still not provided a functioning test-and-trace system or financial packages. High-risk communities are more than doing our part. It’s time the government did the same.
• Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist

News is under threat ...

...just when we need it the most. Millions of readers around the world are flocking to the Guardian in search of honest, authoritative, fact-based reporting that can help them understand the biggest challenge we have faced in our lifetime. But at this crucial moment, news organisations are facing an unprecedented existential challenge. As businesses everywhere feel the pinch, the advertising revenue that has long helped sustain our journalism continues to plummet. We need your help to fill the gap.
We believe every one of us deserves equal access to quality news and measured explanation. So, unlike many others, we made a different choice: to keep Guardian journalism open for all, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. This would not be possible without financial contributions from our readers, who now support our work from 180 countries around the world.
We have upheld our editorial independence in the face of the disintegration of traditional media – with social platforms giving rise to misinformation, the seemingly unstoppable rise of big tech and independent voices being squashed by commercial ownership. The Guardian’s independence means we can set our own agenda and voice our own opinions. Our journalism is free from commercial and political bias – never influenced by billionaire owners or shareholders. This makes us different. It means we can challenge the powerful without fear and give a voice to those less heard.
Reader financial support has meant we can keep investigating, disentangling and interrogating. It has protected our independence, which has never been so critical. We are so grateful.
We need your support so we can keep delivering quality journalism that’s open and independent. And that is here for the long term. Subscribe to the Premium App to access extra features for £5.99 per month. Thank you.

Support The Guardian
Article in today's Guardian. Comments also make for interesting reading.
 

Jbicheno

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Messages
115
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I think the way clinically vulnerable people have been abandoned/forgotten shows a complete lack of understanding of how putting yourself at risk on a daily basis can affect your mental health as well as physical health. You cannot just say you may get this severe illness, you may die but off you go and hope for the best. Of course, we all understand that if you do get Covid this may not be the case, but being in a higher risk group makes it more likely. My opinion is most would choose to carry on working if they felt safe at work but an acknowledgment that extra care should be taken with this group would be great. My experience is this acknowledgement does not exist either in guidelines or practice.
Even when concerns are raised by an employee, often you are left feeling you are causing a fuss or have other issues that are making you anxious. Personally, I have felt somehow it is my fault I’m in a vulnerable group and I should ignore that fact and act as everyone else in my workplace-no PPE, no social distancing and pretend everything is fine.
 
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JRT

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I think the way clinically vulnerable people have been abandoned/forgotten shows a complete lack of understanding of how putting yourself at risk on a daily basis can affect your mental health as well as physical health. You cannot just say you may get this severe illness, you may die but off you go and hope for the best. Of course, we all understand that if you do get Covid this may not be the case, but being in a higher risk group makes it more likely. My opinion is most would choose to carry on working if they felt safe at work but an acknowledgment that extra care should be taken with this group would be great. My experience is this acknowledgement does not exist either in guidelines or practice.
Even when concerns are raised by an employee, often you are left feeling you are causing a fuss or have other issues that are making you anxious. Personally, I have felt somehow it is my fault I’m in a vulnerable group and I should ignore that fact and act as everyone else in my workplace-no PPE, no social distancing and pretend everything is fine.
I think that you have summed the situation up perfectly. We dont want not to work,I think we accept nothing is risk free. The current situation is something else entirely.
 
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Max68

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751
I think the way clinically vulnerable people have been abandoned/forgotten shows a complete lack of understanding of how putting yourself at risk on a daily basis can affect your mental health as well as physical health. You cannot just say you may get this severe illness, you may die but off you go and hope for the best. Of course, we all understand that if you do get Covid this may not be the case, but being in a higher risk group makes it more likely. My opinion is most would choose to carry on working if they felt safe at work but an acknowledgment that extra care should be taken with this group would be great. My experience is this acknowledgement does not exist either in guidelines or practice.
Even when concerns are raised by an employee, often you are left feeling you are causing a fuss or have other issues that are making you anxious. Personally, I have felt somehow it is my fault I’m in a vulnerable group and I should ignore that fact and act as everyone else in my workplace-no PPE, no social distancing and pretend everything is fine.

Perfectly put. I couldn't help but wonder the other day constantly reading about how Covid and shielding is affecting mental health, which is understandable, but you tend not to read anything about the mental health of those of us who have been told we are vulnerable but forced to carry on working in arguably unsafe environments! That is mental stress in itself so why is it not taken into account or mentioned by anybody?!

We were "told" that we were vulnerable remember. It's not a status we placed on ourselves and yet we have been abandoned by the government and our GP's by the look of it when absolutely nothing has changed. Can my GP tell me I am NOT at risks as a diabetic? No they can't. Yet from a safe distance of a phone call or text message they can't or won't do anything to help us to avoid that unsafe workplace. Huh!! They won't even see you face to face for their safety, one on one in a surgery office, but apparently it's fine to work in a crowded classroom where at the very least the students don't wear masks or in Jbicheno's case no one does! What a case of double standards if I ever saw one!! If we "aren't" at risk why are the government locking down again?! Why aren't GP's seeing us face to face? Why are people being told to wear masks? apart from schools!!

When I saw the school counsellor he said he couldn't help me. Purely and simply because he said my fear wasn't irrational but real. The only way I could address that fear was to place myself at risk and of course he wasn't going to suggest that! Everyone now knows I am leaving tomorrow and every single person I have spoken to
understands and even perfectly healthy staff are very nervous about the winter. So why do not the people that matter understand?!

Must confess I had been slipping a tad and wondering if I had done the right thing, but then today I was in the classroom at quite close quarters (my own decision) and suddenly got really nervous and realised that I just can't live like that. Especially when nothing at all will help that real anxiety bar as I said throwing caution to the wind and risking it, and I just can't do that for the next few months.
 

Tannith

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I would like to echo that as someone who works in hospitality albeit in the gym of a members' club, we are dilligent with our routines (one way, regular cleaning and additional deep cleaning, masks and numbers in the building aat any one time) sometimes to the irritation of members who enjoyed being more spontaneious!
I recently committed a minor infringement and have been hauled over the coals for it (I was mortified to have forgotten something).
I think if anyone shone a light over any surface where people have been you'd be hard pressed not to find something (analogous to constantly looking for the corona virus in healthy people) but I think people should make up their own minds if the place they are eating their food in looks clean, has staff with no dirt under their fingernails and messy hair etc. with pleasant toilets, to decide if they feel comfortable. You may wish to dodge the virus and presumably e coli infections too.
Alternatively if you come to my gym the mats are definitely clean enough to eat your dinner off!
messy hair
How is messy hair a risk for covid?
 

Jbicheno

Well-Known Member
Messages
115
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I find it very reassuring that there are several people on here who understand and have often lived or are living through very similar situations as mine. When you keep being told, you are being irrational, masks and visors won’t help, you just need to carry on, you do begin to wonder, am I losing my mind?
Thanks for your support. It does more for my mental health than anyone ‘professional’ I’m speaking to. I haven’t yet spoken to a counsellor (telephone consultation 3rd December-yet another which is not face to face!) but don’t see how a real fear can just be dismissed.
 
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Max68

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751
I find it very reassuring that there are several people on here who understand and have often lived or are living through very similar situations as mine. When you keep being told, you are being irrational, masks and visors won’t help, you just need to carry on, you do begin to wonder, am I losing my mind?
Thanks for your support. It does more for my mental health than anyone ‘professional’ I’m speaking to. I haven’t yet spoken to a counsellor (telephone consultation 3rd December-yet another which is not face to face!) but don’t see how a real fear can just be dismissed.

Did you get in touch with your Union again? You can always PM me. Absolutely staggered you are not able to wear a mask or visor. It's standard at my school for staff now and that's still not enough so no wonder you are unhappy about this. It should be considered a "reasonable adjustment" at an Individual Risk Assessment as that's the whole point of an Individual Risk Assessment because a one sized approach does not fit all. The Union should help on this with regard to your rights and if not then I would stress to the Union that you would like to speak to a new representative.
 
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Jbicheno

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Messages
115
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Thank you Max. I did speak to my union after my headteacher arranged an appointment for me with Occupational Health. The lady I was speaking to again quoted ‘they have to follow the government guidelines’. She did say she would speak to her superior in case they have any other ideas and she would let me know. Nothing forthcoming.
I’m hoping to hear from Occupational Health today so will proceed when I know their recommendations. I have quoted in a previous post my local authority has opened the door to allow face masks. All I need now is some acknowledgment of that! I did email this to my headteacher. No reply and no new individual risk assessment. I think maybe she is waiting for the Occupational Health report too or maybe I’m just being kind.
 

JRT

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Messages
256
I find it very reassuring that there are several people on here who understand and have often lived or are living through very similar situations as mine. When you keep being told, you are being irrational, masks and visors won’t help, you just need to carry on, you do begin to wonder, am I losing my mind?
Thanks for your support. It does more for my mental health than anyone ‘professional’ I’m speaking to. I haven’t yet spoken to a counsellor (telephone consultation 3rd December-yet another which is not face to face!) but don’t see how a real fear can just be dismissed.
I agree,I would say that this thread is one of the things that has kept me grounded. More than anything this thread and a conversation with diabetes uk in mid summer made me feel as though I hadn't totally lost the plot! I think summer was a particularly problematical time. Everyone seemed to be intent on back to normal and at that time I remember being reduced to tears by mixed messages and doubting my own judgement.
I suppose my strength was the knowledge of issues outside my own dilemma. I knew the protective ring Matt Hancock said had been thrown around care homes was a downright lie,one that even shocked a cynic like me. Of course over the past months more deception and incompetence has come to light.
Gradually issues are being highlighted from long covid to the benefits system. Today there is an article in the Guardian about the issues faced by those who have lost their jobs and are not entitled to Universal Credit due to having savings. They seemed surprised, maybe even outraged that savings put aside for pensions or mortgages etc would have to be spent elsewhere. To be fair to them they have just followed the rules. Of course if you havent had recent dealings with the benefit system you may still believe it's a genuine safety net. Over the past decade their has been an abundance of poverty and benefits "porn",recipients are lazy,feckless,living a life of luxury etc etc. A whole myth has been built up around a small number of cases. The introduction of Universal Credit was heralded as making work pay. In reality it's rather like the old workhouse, you have to be in dire straits to engage with it. Hence the zero hours economy etc, Universal Credit as a safety net is not fit for purpose. Those who access foodbanks are not those who spend money on White Lightening and roll ups,increasingly they are employed, nurses ,teachers,especially if only one income. UC will not cover all of your rent or mortgage. At a time of low unemployment many may be able to scrape by,during a pandemic?
Last night on Newsnight they were discussing the government's refusal to continue with free school lunches outside of term time. There was a Tory Mp and a lady whose name I dont know who has been very involved over the years with Social Policy and deprivation. Tory MP blustering on about benefits system a protective safety net and how parents just need to manage etc. Woman argued with calmness but great passion that these were extraordinary times where rules have changed and the amount needed to stop childeren starving was tiny. It ended with her mentioning charity efforts. Which of course the government will love. How long will it be before we are back to Victorian times and those in unfortunate circumstances are reliant on the mercy of the parish?
All of this may seem a little off topic. In explanation my background is Social Policy and Social Work,Psychology and Education. In the last decade I spent years as a carer for my parents and saw how services were eroded to breaking point. After their death I worked in Research and Campaigns for CAB. I've seen first hand the discrepancy between the headlines and reality. Although that hasn't made my current situation much easier it has helped retain my sanity. As a vulnerable group we are treated callously, but we are not alone. I do feel however that for anyone who is now in need of support whether it be benefits, work rights,access to mental health support etc they are in for a very unpleasant surprise.
 

Jbicheno

Well-Known Member
Messages
115
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I agree with you JRT. It seems to me, everyone is trying to pass the buck, so in the end nothing gets done. I don’t want to give up work yet, I’m 59 years old and still have something to offer. However, the callousness of the government guidelines for vulnerable people and the inability, of anyone I’m speaking to, to make a decision is narrowing my choices. In some ways I’m lucky as I have a partner who is our main breadwinner and I do have choices but this is not the path I would have chosen.
It saddens me greatly that the reality of my situation, wanting to wear a face mask in a crowded, indoor environment, may in the end cause me to leave my school.
I feel very sad for people in my situation who do not have any choice but to continue to work. Indeed, there is someone I work with who was forced into a serious breach of Covid-19 isolation rules at work. She did query the advice she was given, and quoted government guidelines and phoned 119 but was still not listened to. I do not want to go into details because I know she can’t afford to lose her job and she asked my advice in confidence. This just shows what a messed up situation we find ourselves in and as you say no safety net.
 

JRT

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Messages
256
I agree with you JRT. It seems to me, everyone is trying to pass the buck, so in the end nothing gets done. I don’t want to give up work yet, I’m 59 years old and still have something to offer. However, the callousness of the government guidelines for vulnerable people and the inability, of anyone I’m speaking to, to make a decision is narrowing my choices. In some ways I’m lucky as I have a partner who is our main breadwinner and I do have choices but this is not the path I would have chosen.
It saddens me greatly that the reality of my situation, wanting to wear a face mask in a crowded, indoor environment, may in the end cause me to leave my school.
I feel very sad for people in my situation who do not have any choice but to continue to work. Indeed, there is someone I work with who was forced into a serious breach of Covid-19 isolation rules at work. She did query the advice she was given, and quoted government guidelines and phoned 119 but was still not listened to. I do not want to go into details because I know she can’t afford to lose her job and she asked my advice in confidence. This just shows what a messed up situation we find ourselves in and as you say no safety net.
It is awful the position people are being put in. I'm the same age as you and must admit I often wish the retirement age was still 60.! That said I to feel still feel I have a lot to give, I'm just not quite sure in what form it will be! It's a difficult decision to make but I'm glad you have the choice,as do I. I think in the end my mind was made up by not wanting to live with that level of stress which is detrimental to both physical and mental health. Initially alongside Union I went along with usual procedures,asking for individual RA etc and all the things one is supposed to be entitled to. Ultimately in some ways it wasnt even about the level of risk as much as my trust in my employer to consistently minimize that risk. Whatever was on paper my knowledge of them pre pandemic knew it wouldnt be followed through. I think at that stage I questioned not only whether I wanted to engage in that process but whether I wanted to be in an environment where I constantly had to be on guard. Nope!
 
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Fairygodmother

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4,045
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Bigotry, reliance on unsupported 'facts', unkindness, unfairness.
It’s appalling that teachers are being asked to work without masks and visors in places that can never be COVID safe.
The government seems to know this; why else would the employers’ duty of care for schools have been updated to include the idea that primary schoolchildren will suffer educationally if teachers wear masks.
I wish the unions had more spine and clout!
 
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Max68

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751
The Benefits system only hammers those who are honest. I was on UC a few years ago and in two months I bizarrely received two tax refunds. It turned out one was correct but the other wasn't, BUT, HMRC couldn't confirm that to me until the following April which was three months away.

Those two months I didn't receive UC because the DWP took tax refunds as "income". So instead of putting away the second tax rebate to pay it back when confirmed, I instead had to live on it because I didn't get UC. Come April HMRC was sending letters saying I owed them money because of "their error".

Fortunately I did get to speak to a good advisor at HMRC and after explaining that their error had cost me UC so I had to spend the incorrect rebate they incredibly cancelled the request for me to pay it back. Others however aren't so lucky.

Had my last day at work today. Had an unbelievable open air send off, with socially distanced delivered cards and presents. Wonderful coffee and a box of family biscuits as a going away present although I will have to make those biscuits last or my sugars will go through the roof!!

Some lovely things said and both my Head and Line Manager definitely want me to reapply when things calm down. I did say to the Head that I had 25 witnesses there to hear him say that so to go easy on me at the interview when it comes!

In a funny way this has made me realise that I do love that job, and has also made me feel wanted and it gives me something to hopefully go back to when this is all over! Possibly one of the lucky ones in many ways so grateful for that.
 
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Jbicheno

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Messages
115
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Diet only
Max, I hope everything goes well for you now you have left. I’m sure not having to worry about putting yourself at risk daily will be a huge weight off your mind.
Such a shame it had to come to that though.
 
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Max68

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751
Max, I hope everything goes well for you now you have left. I’m sure not having to worry about putting yourself at risk daily will be a huge weight off your mind.
Such a shame it had to come to that though.

Thank you. I must say one thing I did notice today though. My Teacher was away on a course today and tomorrow. I was a tad concerned because he has been brilliant allowing me to stand in doorway etc and I was concerned that whoever was leading today wouldn't be so supportive. To my surprise yesterday my teacher told me that "I" would be the lead and he would leave a bit of work but generally it was just fun Halloween stuff and I could put some You Tube videos on. Whether this was deliberate on his part to allow me an element of control for myself I don't know.

So today it was me the "teacher"!! I must say I had to be "in" the class, but sitting behind a desk and laptop, in front of the students at a safe distance was certainly more comforting than being an LSA where you support up close as the teacher teaches. I'm certainly not saying teachers are less at risk than support staff but it was a bit of an eye opener from where a teacher places him/herself in comparison.
 
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Jbicheno

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Messages
115
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Diet only
That is true. Whenever the situation in schools is brought up on the news or current affairs programs, teachers, though rarely mentioned, are always shown socially distancing. I cannot remember any of the many other staff who work in schools getting a mention. We are often reminded that children under 12 do not get very ill, which is good obviously, but there is not information available about whether they can spread the virus. Certainly the risk to support staff who work closely with the children is never mentioned.
 
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