New guidance released as England moves to Plan A & latest industry news

New guidance released as England moves to Plan A

The Government has updated its Covid-19 guidance for restaurants, pubs, nightclubs and takeaway services in light of Plan B restrictions in England being eased.

England has returned to Plan A, which means:

• Workers are no longer asked to work from home if they can. Employers should talk to their workers to agree arrangements to return to the workplace.
• There is no longer a legal requirement to wear a face covering. People are still advised to wear one in crowded and enclosed spaces where they may come into contact with people they do not normally meet.
• Venues and events are no longer required by law to check visitors’ NHS COVID Pass. They can still choose to use the NHS COVID Pass on a voluntary basis.

The new guidance contains information on how to reduce the risk of transmission for customers and workers, as well as advice on testing, cleaning, PPE and face coverings.

You can find the full guidance on the Gov.uk website.

Reporting Taxable Grants

HMRC has produced a new video for businesses on how they should report any taxable grants that they have received through the pandemic on their Company Tax Return. You can watch the video here.

Fully Funded Mental Health & Wellbeing Courses for Hospitality

Hospitality Health in collaboration with HIT Scotland have announced the launch of fully funded mental health and wellbeing training courses for staff within the hospitality and tourism industry.

The courses are funded through the Tourism Recovery Fund and supported by Skills Development Scotland.

The courses provide opportunities at a variety of levels and include the following:
1. Training of staff to deliver ‘In house training’ of Mental Health First Aiders
2. Certificated training for staff to become Mental Health First Aiders
3. Certificated training for staff to have awareness in wellbeing and mental
health issues
4. Training for staff to have awareness of resilience techniques
5. Training and information for businesses to demonstrate how the culture can change the wellbeing of employees for the better, thereby increasing retention and reducing recruitment

Applications will open on Monday 24th January 2022 and close on Sunday 6th February 2022. There are only a limited number of places available on each of the programmes, so the advice is to apply right away.

Find out more.