The Prime Minister’s statement to the nation on Sunday evening included his encouragement to people who cannot work from home to consider returning to their workplace as soon as possible. You may know that the University has been preparing for the time when some people can return to work on the campuses. In the communication to staff on 30 April, we explained that we will only start to allow, small, numbers of staff to return to our campuses when we are confident it is safe to do so, by ensuring strict social distancing measures and enhanced surface disinfecting.
These conditions are not universally in place and therefore we ask you not to return to work on our campuses this week, unless you are already holding essential worker permits.
We have an executive group focused on these preparations, developing a clear set of principles and guidance as well as reviewing the physical aspects of our campus operations. We expect this initial piece of work to be completed by 1st June. If we can safely return some staff to campus work earlier, then we will.
We are likely to prioritise those for whom campus-based work is essential, those who can not work from home at all (as highlighted by the Prime Minister), those who work in areas with a limited number of users (e.g. research laboratories), and those who for some reason, may be unable to effectively work from home.
Many thanks for your continued patience.
