Covid jab to be mandatory for England's care home staff with plans to extend it to NHS staff

Care home staff in England will face compulsory Covid vaccination under plans expected to be revealed by the government "this week".

The plans, which have not been denied by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), will reportedly result in workers having 16 weeks to receive the vaccine or face being fired.

A DHSC spokeswoman told carehome.co.uk: "More will be set out on the plans this week."

The spokeswoman said: “Vaccines are our way out of this pandemic and have already saved thousands of lives – with millions of health and care staff vaccinated.

“Our priority is to make sure people in care homes are protected and we launched the consultation to get views on whether and how the government might take forward a new requirement for adult care home providers, looking after older people, to only deploy staff who have had a COVID-19 vaccination or have an appropriate exemption."

A five-week consultation on whether the government should make vaccination mandatory for staff working in care homes for older people ended on 26 May with the DHSC saying its response will be published "in due course".

Ministers are also considering making the jabs mandatory to everyone who works for the NHS. The move to implement mandatory vaccination for staff was first reported by the Guardian.

The DHSC will reportedly launch two separate consultation exercises into making Covid and flu jabs mandatory for NHS staff.

Care home bosses have already warned that the care sector's recruitment crisis will worsen if the 1.5million-strong care workforce vote with their feet and walk out of jobs rather than be required to have the Covid vaccine.

Speaking as a guest on 'Let's Talk About Care' podcast on 30 March, care minister Helen Whately did not rule out funding for care home providers if mandatory vaccine law sparked staff departures.

Helen Whately also said: “We know that some care homes, some providers are doing this already and are requiring their staff to be vaccinated."

Care home providers including Barchester, Care UK and Advinia Healthcare have already taken the decision to make vaccination mandatory, although there are exemptions such as if the employee is pregnant.

Care Forum Wales chair Mario Kreft has said care homes are duty-bound to do everything in their power to protect their residents and staff and believe care homes should be allowed to "refuse to recruit anybody" who has not been vaccinated.

Dawn Bunter, care home manager at Iceni House is among the care home leaders who do not agree with compulsory vaccination. Dawn Bunter told carehome.co.uk: "I don't think that care staff should be forced to have a vaccine that they don't want to have.

"I personally feel that it shouldn't be an obligation of employment. I'm very pro-vaccine. People need support and understanding surrounding their needs and surrounding why they wouldn't want to have a vaccine."

Mandatory vaccination could spark legal challenges by care staff.

Sonia Rai, director of Nector HR, has developed staff vaccination policies for care homes.

Highlighting the HR issues related to compulsory vaccination on The Caring View chat show, Sonia Rai said: “You can’t force somebody to take the vaccine.

"If they’ve got a health condition, if they’ve got a disability, they may well use a religious belief, they may well have a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. That really means you can’t force them to take it. Yes, you should be openly encouraging them.”

Vote now: Do you think the Covid jab should be mandatory for care home staff

Carehome.co.uk is urging the public to join the debate by voting (anonymously) for or against mandatory Covid vaccination on the debate polls page