In view of the current situation we have taken the decision to postpone our upcoming events in order to safeguard you, our training partners and the team.
All events will be rescheduled at a time when everyone is able to access them and gain full benefit.
From Wednesday 18 March the WMMD team will be working remotely. Please be assured that we are very much here to support the regions museums through this challenging time so please contact us via email in the first instance wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk
We are looking into digital alternatives in order to continue this support. Keep up to date with these developments by continuing to visit our website or signing up to our mailing list.
In the meantime we are pulling together advice and guidance from across sector which can be found below
Acas
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) Coronavirus advice for employers and employees has been updated and can be viewed here
It includes new details on Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), use of holiday leave, increased advice around hygiene in the workplace and guidance for when employees need to self-isolate.
They are also hosting Coronavirus, an advisory webinar for employers. This free webinar will provide practical advice for employers to help manage the impact of Coronavirus in the workplace. It includes:
- steps that can help reduce the spread of the virus
- effective ways of communicating with employees
- self-isolating, time off, sickness certification and sick pay
- altering working hours, shift patterns and working arrangements
- remote working and the use of technology
View more details and register your place here
You can also join Acas for a live Twitter Q&A session on Friday 20 March. 10.30am https://twitter.com/acasorguk
If you have questions or concerns about time off work, pay, remote working and what steps you can take to reduce the spread of the virus, join Acas experts to chat live on Twitter.
Send your questions in advance to @acasorguk #AskAcas.
Arts Council England
ACE have published the following web page which features the latest guidance from government for their funded organisations and projects. This page will be updated as the situation develops and can be viewed here
If you are a National Portfolio Organisation then please contact your Relationship Manager if you have a specific question or concern about your organisation and the effects of the Coronavirus.
They have also set up a central email address for all other queries. Please contact us at: Coronavirus-queries@artscouncil.org.uk
Aim
The Association of Independent Museums (Aim) have also put together a web page which they are regularly updating and can be found here
This also includes:
- A practical guide for charity finance professionals covering business continuity planning, cashflow management and insurance
- A Business resilience checklist
Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy
Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy are now offering a FREE hour of consultancy support every day on a first come first served basis to arts organisations that may need help in the coming weeks. This power hour can be focused on a range of areas including income generation, fundraising strategy, or donor cultivation. Book here
Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance
CHWA have put together Coronavirus resources for practitioners and organisations which can be found here
These include:
- Links to the AMA’s free online events in response to COVID-19
- Voluntary Arts #CreativeNetwork – an online get together of people involved in arts, culture & creativity to chat through these challenging times and make connections
- Eventbrite’s new resource ‘how to host an online event’
Disability Cooperative Network (DCN)
DCN have advice and guidance on How to be more accessible on social media: Twitter, Snapchat, Vimeo which can be viewed here
Other tips include:
- Ensure any tweets with images of statements also include a direct link to your web pages. Images can not be read via screen readers to your visitors
- Ensure any films produced by you about your organisation are captioned for people who are hard of hearing, D/deaf and have sensory processing difficulties. Advice on this can be found from StageTEXT here
East Midlands Museum Development
There is also useful information on the East Midlands Museum Development team’s website where they have pulled together some useful information on remote volunteering, digital equipment and communication and can be found here
Gem
Group for Education in museums (GEM) have also produced guidance for those working in the museum and heritage learning sector and can be found here
This also includes:
- Museums/Heritage Sites and COVID-19 – Links to articles and resources about how museums and heritage sites across the world are addressing coronavirus, safety procedures and digital innovations for working and teaching
- Mental Health and COVID-19 – Encouraging everyone to practice self-care and guidance on remaining well while staying properly informed
NCVO
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has produced a summary page of advice and guidance on its web pages and can be found here
This includes a range of advice including:
- What do you need to do to protect staff, volunteers and visitors
- Sick leave
- What to do about events, board meetings or AGMs
- How to support beneficiaries/service users
- How to develop a contingency plan and how will insurance be impacted
- Finance
- How to support staff and volunteers to work from home
They have also made their member-only resources free to everyone because of the current situation and can be accessed here
Roots HR
The consultants at Roots HR have put together some simple and free tools to support employers with home working. View the tools here
These include:
- A form of words for formalising the change in contractual terms with your employees
- Display Screen Checklist
- The Mental Health At Work portal
Check regularly for updates:
- Coronavirus (COVID-19): UK government response – Sign up for email alerts
- COVID-19: guidance for employers and businesses
- Public Health England
- NHS guidance
- FCO Travel advice
- Government Action Plan
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