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Due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), we will now be providing regular email updates for residents to let you know about the latest information we have and any changes to local services that may be affected.
If you do not wish to receive these updates please click on “unsubscribe” at the bottom of the page.
You can check the latest information on our website at any time by going to https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/coronavirus.
New restrictions in place
Like other organisations, the Council has responded to new, more stringent national restrictions put in place by the Government on social distancing, aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus,
These have been introduced following the Prime Minister’s statement on Monday evening, which included an instruction to members of the public to stay at home and only go out to buy food, exercise or carry out essential work.
Further restrictions included the closure of non-food retail premises and public buildings, the cancelling of events and a ban on all gatherings of people.
A copy of the detailed restrictions announced by the Prime Minister is available to download below.
Disruption to Council services
We are working hard to try to maintain Council services for residents, so far as it is safe and possible to do so.
We are managing this situation by adapting the way we operate, with more office-based staff working from home wherever possible. This will allow us to ensure as many services as possible are still delivered, particularly to the most vulnerable people in our communities, whilst protecting the safety and health of Council employees.
Services impacted by the latest announcement include:
- Closing a number of buildings to the public in order to follow the new rules or where it would otherwise not be possible to reduce the spread of infection, including Libraries and Neighbourhood Hubs, Town Hall, Civic Theatre and Museum.
- We’ve had to move our Customer Services away from face to face contact, so please use telephone and web to make contact with the Council if you possibly can.
- Imposing social distancing measures at Household Waste sites in order to keep users safe
- Imposing social distancing measures at parks, including closing play areas and suspending activities
- Postponing all wedding and ceremonial services, and tight new restrictions have been put in place around funerals – more information will be on our website soon.
- Cancelling markets, except those selling food or essential cleaning products – please do not attend the markets unless you are trying to buy these products
- Stopping non-essential housing repairs and prioritising emergency jobs and work for the most vulnerable
- Postponing all events until further notice
Please visit our website for the latest updates and support available for residents and businesses.
Contacting the Council
In line with social distancing recommendations from Government we have closed our public receptions and have moved all customer services to telephone and web contact only, except for the most vulnerable people who could only be served face to face.
We will still try to answer your enquiries in as timely manner as possible, but this is an extremely busy time and we would be grateful if you could avoid non-urgent enquiries where possible, so that we can prioritise emergency response.
Contacting your councillors
If you are contacting your councillors, please note that our elected members have needed to change their arrangements for advice surgeries.
In light of the current advice from the government to reduce face-to-face contact and in order to try to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, councillors will be conducting their advice surgeries by telephone or online at the moment.
You can find contact details for all councillors via the council’s website. Councillors will continue to assist residents wherever they can, but it is important that everyone’s health comes first.
Funding support for businesses
The Council has now received the Government guidance on a range of financial support for businesses. This includes:
- All retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses, and non-local authority providers of childcare will be given 100% business rates relief for the period 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021.
- Small businesses who are currently eligible for Small Business Rates Relief will receive a cash grant of £10,000.
- Retail, hospitality and leisure businesses which operate from smaller premises with a rateable value below £51,000 will receive a cash grant, a grant of £10,000 for those with a rateable value below £15,000, a grant of £25,000 for those with a rateable value greater than £15,000 and less than £51,000.
Businesses will already have received their rates bills for 2020/21. Pending the processing of the further guidance, all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses and all businesses who currently receive Small Business Rates Relief are advised not to make any payment of their 2020/21 bills. The Council will not send out reminders or summonses during this period pending all the bills being re-issued.
The Council will recalculate and reissue the relevant business rates bills automatically for businesses already getting retail relief. Businesses who are not currently in receipt of any retail relief, will need to fill out the claim form on our website so we can process their application.
Our website will be updated shortly with the latest guidance and a link to the claim form.
In addition to this, the Government is providing a range of further measures, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which allows all UK employers to access support to continue paying part of their employees’ salary for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis.
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