Passport office to return to work
Passport office to return to work
Author
Discussion

Eagleye

Original Poster:

550 posts

79 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronav...

I'm not sure what as changed to bring about this decision.

Either the workplace is safe to return to or it isn't.

It's correct that without other intervention, the indication is that 80%+ will contract C-19 but the point of the current measures is to manage the burden on the NHS.

I don't see that anything has changed from last week.


moles

1,849 posts

268 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
The burden is being managed they have expanded capability and as far as we are told they not overflowing.

This is going to be the problem people have been told they getting 80% pay for sitting at home.

Most are of the belief that when they should return to work there will be zero chance of catching the virus.
People are going to have a meltdown when they realise they will have to go back to work and it’s still there. As soon as the 80% pay is removed let’s see how much they moan then

Edited by moles on Thursday 9th April 07:28

frisbee

5,510 posts

134 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
moles said:
The burden is being managed they have expanded capability and as far as we are told they not overflowing.

This is going to be the problem people have been told they getting 80% pay for sitting at home.

Most are of the belief that when they should return to work there will be zero chance of catching the virus.
People are going to have a meltdown when they realise they will have to go back to work and it’s still there. As soon as the 80% pay is removed let’s see how much they moan then

Edited by moles on Thursday 9th April 07:28
It sounds like you could give them a lesson or two in moaning.rofl

Taylor James

3,111 posts

85 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
I believe these people and hundreds of thousands of other public sector workers will be on full pay, not 80%.

I posted much earlier about HMRC workers not doing any work from home because of tech issues.

Here's more evidence of what's happening.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52219930

There's little need for volunteers. These workers should be redeployed if they can't work from home.

Sheepshanks

39,479 posts

143 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
Taylor James said:
These workers should be redeployed if they can't work from home.
That won't be possible as they'll absolutely all have underlying health issues or have family members who are immunocompromised.

Mojooo

13,288 posts

204 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
The reality is that up and down the country there will be hundreds of thousands if not millions who are working in a place where social distancing cannot be maintained in the way it should be

People are rightly confused about the message they are getting from

-Govt/Boris who are basically saying stay in at all costs
-Govt official position is that (most) businesses can stay open if adhering to social distancing
- the reality that a lot of businesses are open and cannot maintain proper social distancing


Sheepshanks

39,479 posts

143 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
Mojooo said:
The reality is that up and down the country there will be hundreds of thousands if not millions who are working in a place where social distancing cannot be maintained in the way it should be

People are rightly confused about the message they are getting from

-Govt/Boris who are basically saying stay in at all costs
-Govt official position is that (most) businesses can stay open if adhering to social distancing
- the reality that a lot of businesses are open and cannot maintain proper social distancing

When people are being chased out of parks etc you can understand them saying they don't want to travel / work near other people.

Eagleye

Original Poster:

550 posts

79 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
Mojooo said:
The reality is that up and down the country there will be hundreds of thousands if not millions who are working in a place where social distancing cannot be maintained in the way it should be

People are rightly confused about the message they are getting from

-Govt/Boris who are basically saying stay in at all costs
-Govt official position is that (most) businesses can stay open if adhering to social distancing
- the reality that a lot of businesses are open and cannot maintain proper social distancing

Yes, this exactly but I don't see what is confusing, maybe I'm looking at it too simplisticly.

The default is stay at home unless you need to go out for reasons which are quite clear.

Many businesses can organise themselve to ensure safe social distancing.

Any business forcing workers at this moment to go back to work and can't maintain safe practices should be treated like any other firm with unsafe practices.

There will come a time when the burden on the health service will be such that catching C- 19 is a reasonable risk for most workers, we're not there yet.

P-Jay

11,289 posts

215 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
I coming to terms with the fact (well, I think it's a fact) that Lock-downs and social distancing won't eradicate Covid-19. That a Vaccine is probably 2 years away and the Anti-body test didn't work.

The Government has never said (to my knowledge) that if we all went into lock-down that it would simply die out, after-all it started with 3 people in a wet market in China and 3 months later 1.5m people have been diagnosed with it, although the true figure is likely to be many multiples of that.

I personally don't think it would be practically possible to eradicate the virus by social distancing. China is now reporting 80k active cases and only a couple of dozen new cases a day, in theory they've all but beaten it, their lock-down has been so long that anyone who has it will now either now being displaying symptoms and be isolating or has recovered. Within a week (I think) those 80k people with either have recovered or died. Great.

But it only takes 1 carrier, an Airline Pilot from NYC, a Sailor from Spain or a Farmer on a Donkey riding over the boarder and within a few weeks they're back where they are now.

No, I don't buy this 12 weeks isolation for the most vulnerable will be long enough for the rest of us to get it, and get over it, protecting them. I think, as they keep saying, it's to slow things down to make it manageable for the NHS, we have a lot more bed now than we did 3 weeks ago, it's time for some more people to get it. We're not flattening 'the' curve, we're flattening the first curve.

So anyway, Passport Office staff, on the face of it, it seems odd - is their workplace safe? I doubt it, it doesn't sound like the sort of place many people have private offices or desks 2m apart without considering the challenges of shared entrances, couple that with the fact, is there even much work for them to do? Borders are closed to most people do they really need thousands of them working for the tiny number of people who can travel at the moment? No.

I'm not saying they're guinea pigs, but if you were a government looking for some guinea pigs to test the impact of reopening offices, an office you owned would be a good place to start.

Sheepshanks

39,479 posts

143 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
P-Jay said:
I'm not saying they're guinea pigs, but if you were a government looking for some guinea pigs to test the impact of reopening offices, an office you owned would be a good place to start.
DWP offices are going flat out. Lots of complaints from staff.

Taylor James

3,111 posts

85 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
P-Jay said:
So anyway, Passport Office staff, on the face of it, it seems odd - is their workplace safe? I doubt it, it doesn't sound like the sort of place many people have private offices or desks 2m apart without considering the challenges of shared entrances, couple that with the fact, is there even much work for them to do? Borders are closed to most people do they really need thousands of them working for the tiny number of people who can travel at the moment? No.

I'm not saying they're guinea pigs, but if you were a government looking for some guinea pigs to test the impact of reopening offices, an office you owned would be a good place to start.
Here's a radical thought. Work two or three shifts over 24 hours. Half or a third of the people in the same amount of space = room for distancing.

I know that's not the normal when you normally get in 8 leave at 4 and accrue a day off in flex credit every month but needs must eh?




menousername

2,370 posts

166 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
said:
s there even much work for them to do? Borders are closed to most people do they really need thousands of them working for the tiny number of people who can travel at the moment? No.
Was thinking the same- what passport processing work is so urgent?? Maybe since Wuhan is back open we are preparing for Chinese tourists


arfur

4,010 posts

238 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
menousername said:
said:
s there even much work for them to do? Borders are closed to most people do they really need thousands of them working for the tiny number of people who can travel at the moment? No.
Was thinking the same- what passport processing work is so urgent?? Maybe since Wuhan is back open we are preparing for Chinese tourists
But Bicester Village is closed ... they'll have nowhere to go ;-)

Taylor James

3,111 posts

85 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
menousername said:
said:
s there even much work for them to do? Borders are closed to most people do they really need thousands of them working for the tiny number of people who can travel at the moment? No.
Was thinking the same- what passport processing work is so urgent?? Maybe since Wuhan is back open we are preparing for Chinese tourists
Potential relaxation of flight restrictions? Vast numbers of job applications needing passport ID? There must be huge numbers of passports going out of date on a daily basis.

Jonesy23

4,650 posts

160 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
Taylor James said:
Here's a radical thought. Work two or three shifts over 24 hours. Half or a third of the people in the same amount of space = room for distancing.

I know that's not the normal when you normally get in 8 leave at 4 and accrue a day off in flex credit every month but needs must eh?
A / B teams - plenty of people are managing variations on this. It isn't complicated.

OlonMusky

708 posts

78 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
menousername said:
said:
s there even much work for them to do? Borders are closed to most people do they really need thousands of them working for the tiny number of people who can travel at the moment? No.
Was thinking the same- what passport processing work is so urgent?? Maybe since Wuhan is back open we are preparing for Chinese tourists
I know some people who are stuck in the UK and can't support relatives stuck elsewhere because they don't have a valid passport.

oyster

13,507 posts

272 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
Mojooo said:
The reality is that up and down the country there will be hundreds of thousands if not millions who are working in a place where social distancing cannot be maintained in the way it should be

People are rightly confused about the message they are getting from

-Govt/Boris who are basically saying stay in at all costs
-Govt official position is that (most) businesses can stay open if adhering to social distancing
- the reality that a lot of businesses are open and cannot maintain proper social distancing

When people are being chased out of parks etc you can understand them saying they don't want to travel / work near other people.
There's nothing confusing in the advice at all.

It's so damn clear my 4/5 year old children know the rules.

You are allowed out of home for the following:
Shopping for food / essentials / medicines (infrequently and ideally by oneself)
Exercising near to home - once per day
Work, if you have no means to work from home.


How goddamn clear is that?
The government objective is clear - minimise spread of coronavirus. Not eliminate spread - MINIMISE spread, to enable the NHS to handle the throughput of patients.

InitialDave

14,420 posts

143 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
Jonesy23 said:
Taylor James said:
Here's a radical thought. Work two or three shifts over 24 hours. Half or a third of the people in the same amount of space = room for distancing.

I know that's not the normal when you normally get in 8 leave at 4 and accrue a day off in flex credit every month but needs must eh?
A / B teams - plenty of people are managing variations on this. It isn't complicated.
This is what my place is doing. It's a good approach.

GT03ROB

13,995 posts

245 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
oyster said:
There's nothing confusing in the advice at all.

It's so damn clear my 4/5 year old children know the rules.

You are allowed out of home for the following:
Shopping for food / essentials / medicines (infrequently and ideally by oneself)
Exercising near to home - once per day
Work, if you have no means to work from home.


How goddamn clear is that?
The government objective is clear - minimise spread of coronavirus. Not eliminate spread - MINIMISE spread, to enable the NHS to handle the throughput of patients.
It is hard to understand why people don't get it.

We have a guy come round & does a bit of gardening. Except he's decided he now can't. He works on his own & outside FFS how low a risk is that?

Eagleye

Original Poster:

550 posts

79 months

Thursday 9th April 2020
quotequote all
oyster said:
There's nothing confusing in the advice at all.

It's so damn clear my 4/5 year old children know the rules.

You are allowed out of home for the following:
Shopping for food / essentials / medicines (infrequently and ideally by oneself)
Exercising near to home - once per day
Work, if you have no means to work from home.


How goddamn clear is that?
The government objective is clear - minimise spread of coronavirus. Not eliminate spread - MINIMISE spread, to enable the NHS to handle the throughput of patients.
In fairness, I think your summary is the best one I've seen - you should get a job in Government.