Positive Covid Test at Leith Jobcentre

A staff member at Leith Jobcentre has tested positive for Covid, raising yet more questions about the DWP drive to force claimants and workers back into the jobcentres. On 29 June the Jobcentre worker learnt that they were a close contact of someone who was Covid positive. They were rightly sent home to isolate.

However, the DWP went ahead with a Jobs Fair in the Jobcentre the next day, 30 June, on the first floor where this staff member had worked. And when it was learnt on 30 June that the staff member had indeed tested positive, the DWP still kept the Jobcentre open to the public for the rest of the week. At the ECAP stall outside Leith jobcentre on 1^st July we witnessed claimants going into the Jobcentre.

ECAP have written to the DWP’s East Scotland Jobcentre Services Leader, Suzanne Mann, to insist on answers to these questions:

• Has there been an investigation into whether the staff member who tested positive for Covid had close contact with any other staff members or claimants?
• If there was close contact have people been advised to go home, get tested and isolate?
• Were any close contacts of the Covid-positive staff member present at the Jobs Fair on 30 June?
• Have all attending the Jobs Fair been informed that a staff member present in the same part of the jobcentre the previous day, has tested positive?
• Are all staff taking 2 Lateral Flow Tests per week as advised by the Scottish Government https://www.nhsinform.scot/testing?
• Why was the Jobs Fair allowed to go ahead​?
• Why did the Jobcentre continue to admit claimants and members of the public for the rest of the week?
• Will the East Scotland jobcentres now review and change the policy of ramping up scheduled / mandatory jobcentre appointments?

This episode shows the danger posed by the DWP policy of restarting mandatory jobcentre appointments and increasing footfall in Jobcentres when nearly 40% of adults in Scotland still lack full vaccination protection.

To hold a Jobs Fair during a pandemic is totally reckless!

ECAP demand that mandatory jobcentre appointments be stopped. The Jobcentres should only be open for appointments which are essential for claimants to sort out their claim, when this cannot be done online or by phone. We also demand an end to conditionality and the threat of sanctions.

Members of the jobcentre workers union the PCS indicated in a consultative ballot that they were prepared to take industrial action to oppose the massive increase in Jobcentre footfall being driven forward by the DWP. Covid outbreaks have closed jobcentres in Glasgow and Wigan.

We urge claimants and jobcentre workers to step up the struggle to stop the DWP drive to fully open up Jobcentres while there is still a real danger from Covid. Join us at our regular stalls at Leith and High Riggs jobcentres. Contact us via ecap@lists.riseup.net or leave a message at 0131 557 6242

Information regarding testing – the Scottish Government recommend everyone without symptoms take a rapid lateral flow test twice per week – see first two links below.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/testing

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested/pages/no-covid-symptoms/

https://www.facebook.com/TheScottishGovernment/videos/take-a-coronavirus-test-twice-a-week/108117148064944/

https://www.cbi.org.uk/articles/factsheet-workplace-testing-for-covid-19/

FULL TEXT OF ECAP LETTER TO THE DWP ABOUT THE COVID SITUATION AT LEITH JOBCENTRE BELOW

Ms Suzanne Mann

East Scotland Jobcentre District Service Leader

DWP

suzanne.mann@dwp.gov.uk.

Dear Ms Mann

We would be grateful if you could give us some information concerning the worrying situation at Leith Jobcentre, Commercial Street, Edinburgh where as you will know a staff member has tested positive for covid.

Our organisation was holding a stall at the jobcentre on 1^st July and we gathered from a conversation with a member of the Jobcentre management that a staff member learnt on 29 June that they had been a close contact with someone who had tested positive for covid – they were therefore sent home and had a test. On 30 June it was learned the test was positive.

Our organisation represents the interests of claimants and we are anxious to confirm that all steps have been taken to ensure the safety of claimants in this situation.

We would be grateful if you could answer the following questions –

Was the positive staff member in attendance at the jobcentre on Monday 28 June?

Has there been an investigation into whether the positive staff member had close contact with any fellow staff members or claimants on 28 or 29 June? If so, when did the investigation take place?

If so, and if there were some close contacts who were claimants – have they been informed? And advised that they need to have a test and isolate for ten days? And when were they informed?

If so, and if there were some close contacts who were staff members – have they been sent home and advised to get a test and isolate for ten days? And when were they informed?

Were there any close contacts of the positive staff member present at the Jobs Fair in the jobcentre on 30 June?

Have all who were present at the Jobs Fair been informed that a staff member present in the same part of the jobcentre the previous day, has tested positive?

Are all staff taking 2 Lateral Flow Tests per week as advised by the Scottish Government?

If not were all staff (at least on 1st floor where the positive staff member worked) advised to take an LFT the day the positive staff member was sent home?

Why was the Jobs Fair allowed to go ahead on 30 June when it was known the previous day that a staff member working in the same section of the Jobcentre was suspected to be covid positive?

Why did the Jobcentre continue to admit claimants and members of the public for the rest of the week, after the staff member was suspected to be positive on 29 June and even after they were known to be positive on 30 June?

In light of this whole situation, and the increasing covid case rate generally, will Edinburgh East jobcentres be reviewing, and considering changing, the DWP decision to restart mandatory appointments in the jobcentres ? We have been approached by several claimants very concerned that they are being told they have to go into their jobcentre for mandatory appointments. In a situation where a large proportion of the population have yet to receive full vaccination protection, this seems to be putting both claimants and jobcentre workers at risk.

We look forward to a reply as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty