Category: News

Registration offices are currently closed in: Burgess Hill, East Grinstead, Littlehampton and Storrington but appointments are available at the main hub locations.

Registering a death: In light of the current guidance, we are asking that only the main person informing us of a death, attends the appointment. We would also ask that anyone who is in self-isolation arranges for an alternative informant who has not been in contact with anyone who has the virus to collect the Medical Certificate of Death and attend the appointment. We apologise for any upset this may cause, but hope you understand the importance of protecting everyone’s wellbeing. Please note, the above guidance relates to registration of death appointments.

Registering a birth: we would ask that parents consider keeping those attending the appointment to register a birth to a minimum where possible, accepting that both parents need to attend if unmarried.  

For further advice please ring 01243 642122.

Ceremonies

Following the latest public health advice we have reviewed our approach to forthcoming ceremonies at both our WSCC ceremony rooms and Licensed Venues. We will be contacting couples directly to make them aware of the precautions we are taking to ensure we can deliver ceremonies in a safe way and will publish updates and responses to frequently asked questions on our website.

Understandably, we are dealing with an unprecedented volume of calls and are working our way through postponements, cancellations and questions, whilst dealing with the most imminent ceremonies first. We are committed to maintaining this service in these unprecedented times and adhering to the statutory minimum guidelines which require the couple, two witnesses and two registrars.

The care industry will inevitably be under enormous pressure as the coronavirus outbreak develops. Our most vulnerable residents require round the clock care and a resilient workforce is required to look after their needs at this difficult time. If you are able to step in and take on a job in care please get in touch now. Don’t worry if you haven’t worked in care before as full training and on-going support is given. You may have worked in the travel, leisure and hospitality industries and have the perfect skills to work in care.

Our friendly Proud to Care team can help you find the right role – email now at proudtocare@westsussex.gov.uk or search for jobs here.

These are obviously very uncertain times. However, it is important people do still get fresh air and stay fit and well while closely following government guidance.

Spring is slowly arriving in West Sussex, take a moment if you can to think of your health and wellbeing and see our wonderful outdoors, while following guidance on social distancing.

To see what we have on offer in West Sussex, visit www.experiencewestsussex.com

Due to current circumstances all residents and visitors with bookings should contact the individual businesses to check their operating status, postponement and cancellation policies. For more information please click here.

Following the latest Government advice, all 36 libraries in West Sussex are now closed until further notice.

Libraries provide a valuable service to residents and the library team are working on plans to offer a modified library service during these unprecedented times, which we will update people on as we know more.

For now, anyone who is currently not a member of their local library, but wants to join, can do so online.

Once registered, you will have instant access to the e-library service, where there are a range of downloadable books, audiobooks, magazines, comics and newspapers.

There are also procedures in place for anyone who currently has items on loan:

• Library staff will automatically renew everything that is currently on loan and will continue to do so during the closures.
• No fines and charges will be incurred during the closure.
• Individuals do not need to call the renewals line to stop books and other items from going overdue.

More details will follow in due course, to keep up-to-date follow the library service on Twitter or Facebook.

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service is offering alternative ways of ensuring vulnerable residents are fire safe in their homes during the coronavirus outbreak.

The service will be offering their free Safe and Well Visits via phone, Skype and by posting a useful resource document.

The visits are a way of offering advice on how to stay safe as well as smoke detectors and other specialist fire equipment free of charge.

General fire safety advice includes:

• Smoke alarms should be on every level of the home. Check they’re working regularly.
• Avoid smoking in comfortable furniture or beds #DontSnoozeAndSmoke
• Fires such as log burners should be cleaned regularly, and guards placed around any open flames.
• Electrical items should be checked, don’t overload plug sockets. Don’t leave anything on charge overnight.
• Try and be more careful in the kitchen. 50% of home fires start here.
• You should close your doors at night in case a fire breaks out. This will help to contain the fire/toxic smoke and prevent the spread by up to 20 minutes.

Book or refer someone for free Safe and Well advice here: http://bit.ly/WSFRSSafeAndWell.

Maintaining your general health and wellbeing at home will be important in the coming weeks. Try including these ideas in your routine:

• Stay physically active – stand up from your chair regularly, move around your house, and try to get outside into the garden; check out exercise resources online, including Super Six.
• Maintain a healthy diet and drink plenty – eat a variety of food groups, including protein, dairy and at least five fruit and veg a day (frozen or tinned are good), and 6-8 mugs of fluid.
• Keep connected to your friends and family – talk to people on the phone, by text or video call if you can.
• Look after your mental wellbeing – keeping busy with hobbies or learning something new can help – this guide has lots of ideas.
• Stay safe and warm at home – let natural light and fresh air in, and use this safety checker.

You can also find guidance on staying safe and well at home from Age UK.

On 19 March, the Government updated its guidance for educational settings, which now asks that parents should keep their children at home, wherever possible. It also asks that schools remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend.

West Sussex schools are being asked to continue to provide care for a limited number of children – children who are vulnerable, whose parents are key workers and critical to the COVID-19 response, and children who cannot be safely cared for at home. Definitions of ‘vulnerable children’ and ‘key workers’ are provided in the guidance.

The Government has also published further information for parents and carers about the closure of schools and other educational settings, which will continue to be regularly updated.

West Sussex County Council’s Public Health team is working closely with Public Health England (PHE), which is leading the national COVID-19 response and providing messaging for the public.

The latest Department of Health & Social Care and Public Health England information on COVID-19 is available to read on the Government website.

Public Health England has a regularly updated blog to answer many frequently asked questions.

You can help prevent the spread of germs and infection by following NHS advice:

• wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
• always wash your hands when you get home or into work
• use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
• cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
• put used tissues in the bin straight away and wash your hands afterwards
• try to avoid close contact with people who are unwell

Find out about how the coronavirus is affecting West Sussex on our website.

We remain concerned about the elderly and those with underlying conditions which make them more vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus and are living in the East Grinstead.

From Monday 24th September our helpline which began back in March is no longer collecting and delivering shopping, but there are local groups who can help if you cannot get an online or telephone order from the supermarkets. We are continuing to collect ad hoc prescriptions, for those who are isolating and have no one to collect for them. If you have a regular prescription we ask that you arrange delivery from your pharmacy (there may be an annual charge). Please note that we may not be able to go the collect the same day, it might be the following working day.   

The number to dial will be 01342 323636 and press 1 if you are in one of the vulnerable groups.  This help line will be operating from 9am–4pm Monday to Friday. If we can help or direct you to the right people we will.

All our volunteers who deliver are coming from established organisations and will have ID.

The initiative (East Grinstead Emergency Action Group) has been being coordinated by several groups and businesses in the town including the Mug Tree and the Town Council.

The council website will also include a list of restaurants and food businesses who are now offering a delivery service.

There will be a gradual reduction in train services from the 23 March to culminate in a fully amended timetable from Monday 30 March.

To manage and protect train services for key workers, the UK rail industry is introducing a revised train timetable that is expected to be sustainable in this scenario. Our staff will keep people moving.

This timetable will be introduced gradually from Monday 23 March 2020 and will culminate in a revised timetable from Monday 30 March 2020. The timetable will remain in effect until further notice.

Information for customers to plan their journeys will be available on the homepage of any of our websites:

• www.southernrailway.com
• www.thameslinkrailway.com
• www.greatnorthernrail.com
• www.gatwickexpress.com

To provide a sense of what to anticipate, the fully revised timetable from the 30 March onwards will be an adaption of the existing Sunday timetable, with earlier start and later finish times to provide extra services for key workers.

This timetable provides existing customer familiarity and enables GTR to introduce a timetable with known driver planning, routes, train timings and interactions at sections of constrained infrastructure such as the Thameslink core between St Pancras International and London Blackfriars. It also means that interactions and connections with other non-GTR operated train services are known, robust, understood and stress-tested plans exist.

Tickets and refunds

Information on tickets and refunds is available on our websites, such as this link on the Southern webpage: https://www.southernrailway.com/travel-information/plan-your-journey/coronavirus-information

GTR are working closely with the Department for Transport to deliver our approach and have agreed the following changes:

Day tickets such as Anytime, Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak fares can be refunded in full without any administration charges if purchased directly from GTR (e.g. at a ticket office, via our websites etc). Third-party retailers such as trainline.com may have different policies.

Advance fares such as Southern £5 advance fares (purchased for specific dates and times) can be exchanged for an alternative journey free of charge.

Under current policy, the customer relations team is ensuring that annual season ticket holders that expect to travel more than forty weeks per calendar year in future are making as informed a choice as possible in the circumstances before opting for a refund.

This is because annual season tickets are priced on the value of forty weeks of weekly season tickets, with twelve weeks free. This means that for a refund, our customer services team will work out how much it would have cost a customer to travel up to the point when they stopped using their season ticket using weekly season tickets. We will then refund the difference between that amount and how much a customer paid for their season ticket. Employer season ticket loan schemes are usually paid in ten, rather than twelve instalments to account for how the system works.