Update: 20 December 2022

Face masks no longer a universal requirement in our services

On 15 December 2022, the government announced changes to their guidance, meaning that universal use of face masks by staff has been withdrawn in social care locations.

This means that United Response staff are no longer required to wear a mask at all times when supporting people in their own homes, at our day services, in our education or employment services, or in our Registered Care Homes.

There are a few situations when our staff will continue to wear masks:

  • During personal care, when supporting a person with an infection or with an aerosol generating procedure such as CPAP. This was commonplace prior to the pandemic.
  • If there is an outbreak of Covid-19 in the service, or in the family of the staff member – please see the government guidance for details.
  • If it is the preference of the staff member or the person being supported
  • If supporting someone who is particularly vulnerable to severe outcomes from COVID-19
  • If an event or gathering is assessed as being particularly high risk.

Please be assured that our staff will continue to apply the highest standards of infection control to keep your loved ones safe, at home and out in the community.

You can read more about these changes in the government guidance on infection prevention and control in adult social care.

Should you have questions about this, please speak to the manager of the service that your family or friend is part of. 

Face masks
Government guidance: social care service staff are no longer required to wear a mask

Keeping our people safe and well

Our first priority is always the health and wellbeing of the people we support and our staff.

Government and local authority advice, guidance and law relating to Covid-19 changes often. We send regular updates to all our staff to make sure they understand and follow the current guidance. This keeps them, and everyone we support, as safe as possible.

Our team of directors maintain oversight of the Coronavirus situation as it changes and agree our next steps.

Our staff have access to expert health and safety advice seven days a week through a dedicated email inbox.

All our staff are trained in infection control as standard. The pandemic demanded more PPE and enhanced cleaning procedures. All our staff are given regular updates on how to keep the homes of the people we support as safe as possible. We use a three-tier infection control system to respond to higher and lower risk levels in the different areas where we work.

Read more about our response in our Coronavirus risk assessment.

Advice for visiting people we support

We are deeply aware of how difficult changes to face-to-face contact have been for everyone, including the people we support, their families and friends.

We have followed the government’s roadmap for cautiously easing lockdown, and updated our policies and guidance in line with each stage of the easements.

Whenever it’s safe to do so, we will keep visits for people we support as frequent and normal as possible. Visits are risk assessed based on the people involved and where they live.

We always comply with local and government Coronavirus restrictions as soon as they come into place to keep the people we support and our staff as safe as possible.

Read the United Response Coronavirus Visitors Policy

Read the United Response Coronavirus Visitor Risk Assessment

Holidays – please check before booking

Please speak to United Response staff before booking to go on holiday with somebody we support. We have to comply with the law, general Coronavirus guidance and specific guidance for people living in registered care homes or supported living services. We can help to make sure that any holidays planned are safe for the people we support.

Keeping people we support active and engaged

Being active and engaged is a vital part of life. Since the start of the pandemic our staff and the people we support have found many ways to keep life varied, interesting and fun.

We have some free resources and online seminars to help people to ‘Stay Inside, Be Inspired’. These resources are designed to help families and support workers give great support, even in challenging situations. We continue to provide these remote activities because of their popularity.

If you have questions or concerns

  • If you are supported by United Response, please ask your support worker or service manager.
  • If you are a friend or family member of a person we support, please ask your service manager.
  • Please use our general contact information for other questions.

Other information about Coronavirus

We do our best to keep the information on this page up to date. Please be aware that as things often change quickly, your main source of information about Coronavirus should always be the gov.uk website.

For the latest Government rules and guidance on Coronavirus, visit gov.uk/coronavirus.

If you have any concerns about the Coronavirus outbreak, please visit the NHS website.

Coronavirus information from the World Health Organsation (WHO).

Resources from Access Social Care to help you understand the law during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Easy News: Coronavirus Special Edition (May 2020)

Guidance: How to wear and make a cloth face covering

Guidance for people who provide unpaid support to people with a learning disability or autism