In February we brought you the news that Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, believed it was no longer proportionate to require vaccination as a condition of deployment, when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccination. Since then the legislation has been further amended after the decision was taken to allow for a consultation to have the changes revoked.
Since November 11, 2021, CQC regulated care homes have required employees to evidence their COVID-19 vaccination status. The Regulations were then extended to the wider health and social care sector and was due to come into force from 1 April 2022.
On 31 January, Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced that it was his belief that it was no longer proportionate to require vaccination as a condition of deployment when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccination. Consequently, a further consultation was launched to seek views on revoking the Regulations. This closed on 16 February.
On 1 March 2022, the government confirmed that new Regulations will be brought in on 15 March 2022 that will indeed, revoke the requirement for CQC registered persons who provide regulated activity or CQC registered care homes in England, to require employees or workers to evidence their vaccination status.
This announcement will provide a huge relief to employers operating in the health and social care sector who are under great pressure in terms of recruiting new staff as well as retaining employees. The consultation received 90,000 responses, and in seeking views on the question “which best describes your preference for this requirement”, only nine per cent opposed the requirement being revoked.
The findings from the consultation are detailed and provide analysis that has led to this decision. You can read it here.
Further information
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