There is a great tradition in this country of the community coming together in times of crisis, and it is wonderful to see the level of community response emerging, and this is a fantastic testament to the caring nature of our communities.

However, it is important to ensure VCSE organisations are carefully monitoring their output against:

• The risk to yourself
• The risk to others
• The level of benefit

We will be focusing much of our support on helping VCSE groups and organisations on how to continue to operate effectively, efficiently, safely and considerately during the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. We have provided some guidance below. If you have specific support needs please get in touch.

We want to emphasise that this will be a long-term effort.  And we ask you to be patient as we put our plan in place.

Information and advice for people

It is important to only follow and distribute information from official sources.

Here are links to general information from the NHS and a toolkit from Norfolk County Council.

Communication
As social distancing becomes more important consider using email, websites, Facebook or the traditional phone call to make contact. It’s a great way to organise yourselves, check on people and reduce isolation – whilst avoiding physical contact.

• Think about who needs to be kept informed; your team, trustees, services users, partners and funders. Keep messages consistent, simple, regular and action-orientated
• Keep service users updated but don’t go overboard. Website messages, Facebook or twitter, answerphone messages and posters on doors are good ways to do this.
• Keep your team regularly informed of changes. You need to think about the potential wellbeing impacts of home-working, including being isolated, welfare and performance.
• Check that your emergency and home contact list is updated and accessible to authorised people.

Please be aware at this difficult time that there will be much more pressure on those who are already considered to be vulnerable for example children and young people, those who have experienced domestic abuse and families under crisis.  We would encourage you to think about how you can maintain contact with those you know are vulnerable, such as face timing, setting up contact plans, text messages and phone calls.

Volunteers
You may have to consider recruiting additional help to continue operating.  There are currently hundreds of people in communities across the county that are willing to do their bit to help and it makes sense that these people wherever possible are signposted to existing organisations that have the resources and knowledge to manage them.

Most volunteers working with vulnerable people and children will need to be DBS checked and offered a level of training and supervision in their role.  However, if this is not currently practical think about how volunteers can help without having direct contact (see safeguarding section below).

Safeguarding
The safety and wellbeing of vulnerable people and children is especially important at this time, so continue wherever possible to make sure you are following your existing safeguarding policies and practices in protecting service users, staff, and volunteers.  Approaches that are commonly used such as DBS checking, comprehensive interviewing and monitoring may not be feasible or practical currently so you need to think about how you can mitigate this.  To reduce risk, think about how you can avoid a situation where you are on your own with a vulnerable person. If direct contact is required and the volunteer has not been subject to your usual vetting procedures consider ensuring two volunteers are present to reduce risk.

When you are speaking to people potentially self-isolating consider advising them to:

• Ask people where they have come from and if they say they are from an agency they should have identification
• Avoid inviting people into their home unnecessarily
• Make sure you only give money to people you know and trust
• Not hand over personal information such as bank details
• If you have any concerns about an individual’s intentions get in touch with the police
• Be aware of scams (see section below)

Scams
Despite the majority of people having the best intentions to help others with both honesty and integrity, there are individuals out there who are taking advantage of others misfortune, and we encourage all organisations to be aware of this to protect the vulnerable.

Norfolk Trading Standards have already had reports from colleagues across the country of doorstep rogues targeting people in self isolation in the hope of extorting money or gaining access to your home.  If you suspect someone is not being genuine do not engage in conversation or give over any money/personal details.

Please also note there have also been alerts from the World Health Organisation regarding ongoing coronavirus themed phishing attacks.  If you receive any of these such emails do not reply and do not download the attachments.

Any concerns should be reported to Norfolk Trading Standards by calling 0800 223 1133

Our aim is to ensure that both volunteers and those they are helping are aware of the potential pitfalls and to ensure that people make a logical and informed decision.

You can view current consumer alerts for scam information on Norfolk County Council’s website here.

You can also signup here to receive consumer and business scam alerts here.

British Red Cross
We are currently getting reports of people showing up asking for money to do shopping or for home testing saying they are from the British Red Cross. The British Red Cross are NOT doing this nor are they distributing any Covid19 postcards.  

If you become aware of any of this activity you should call the police non-emergency number 101 immediately.

All British Red Cross staff and volunteers have clear and recognisable ID and uniforms.

You should not hand over money in advance for shopping unless you already know and trust the person.