Government Consultation launched on staff COVID-19 vaccines in care homes

** A summary of the survey responses is now available to read **

On 14 April 2021 the Department for Health and Social Care opened a consultation on making vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes.

The 5-week consultation sets out proposals to amend regulations to require older adult care home providers to deploy only those workers who have received their COVID-19 vaccination in line with government guidance.

BASW would like to hear your views so that we can submit a response to the consultation from BASW membership.  Please do feed your views to us by taking this short anonymous survey.

Survey now closed

BASW continues to encourage social workers and social care workers to take up the offer of the Covid -19 vaccination however the possible proposal of mandatory vaccinations for staff in adult care homes is complex and raises potential human rights issues about choice and the impact of discrimination and consequences of unemployment if people choose not to have the vaccine.

It is important that we understand the reasons why staff may be hesitant to have the vaccine which includes trust and confidence also from a protected characteristic perspective and ensure that dedicated hard-working staff who have worked throughout Covid to support people in adult care homes are not penalised by a mandatory vaccination programme.