Coronavirus support

With autumn approaching, Hackney households are being urged to apply for free home insulation from Hackney Light and Power, the Council’s publicly-owned energy services company.  Hackney’s Green Homes programme is the first borough-wide initiative in London to offer thermal efficiency measures to privately-owned and rented homes, including cavity and loft insulation This could lower energy bills for thousands of local residents,significantly reduce the gases produced heating homes which contribute to the climate emergency, and help landlords comply with the latest energy efficiency rules. From April 2020, new government regulations required all private landlords to ensure any home they let has a minimum Band ‘E’ energy rating.The Council wants to help landlords of Hackney’s 34,000 privately rented homes make improvements to meet the new energy efficiency standards and avoid enforcement action. The Council has already received over 90 applications for the Hackney Green Homes programme since it launched in February. Home visits to assess eligibility have now resumed, with staff following social distancing guidelines when visiting.  Residents can also apply to trial innovative new renewable heating upgrades, such as hydrogen fuel-cell boilers and air-to-air heat pumps to explore the potential of such technologies to reduce the environmental impact of heating, which the Committee on Climate Change has been clear is essential if national commitments to net zero emissions are to be met.  Hackney Light and Power will play a key role in delivering the Council’s ambitious decarbonisation targets set out in the climate emergency motion passed at Full Council in June 2019 - which will see the Council deliver a 45% reduction in carbon emissions relative to 2010 levels across all its functions by 2030, and deliver net zero emissions by 2040, in line with the most ambitious reductions set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Residents can apply for the Hackney Green Homes programme at: https://hackney.gov.uk/hlp-green-homes

Philip Glanville, Mayor of Hackney, responds to the Chancellor's announcement that the furlough scheme will not be extended and the Government's new Job Support Scheme.  As of the latest data available, 44,100 employees in Hackney had been furloughed under the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.77% of businesses who responded to the Council’s Coronavirus Business Impact Monitoring survey said they had furloughed staff, with 76% saying they had lost between three-quarters to all of their income.Two-thirds of businesses said Government support was not enough, with nearly 90% saying they would need further support in the next six months.

Pubs, restaurants, barbers and museums are being asked to display new QR codes today in a bid to control coronavirus and save lives. Hackney Council and the City of London Corporation are calling on businesses to take part in the national poster campaign which encourages people to download the new NHS COVID-19 app. From today [24 September] certain venues in England and Wales are legally required to display the test and trace posters to make it easier for people to check-in at different premises. This includes: hospitality services, including pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés; tourism and leisure services, including hotels, museums, cinemas, zoos and theme parks; close contact services, including hairdressers, barbershops and tailors. Venues that need to display the QR code but fail to do so are liable for fines of up to £1,000, which will rise to up to £4,000 for repeat offenders. Places of worship and other venues not legally required to display the QR code are also being encouraged to take part. The process is simple: when someone enters a venue and scans an NHS QR code poster with their smartphone, the venue information will be logged on their device. The phone will check for other users who have visited at that same time and location and, if the app finds a match with a positive case of COVID-19, users will get an anonymous alert with advice on what to do next. The alert message does not identify the venue - it only tells the user that they have recently been to a place where they may have come into contact with the virus. The app will never access the GPS location, contacts, or any other personal data saved in the smartphones. Businesses will be expected to make sure their customers are aware of the rules around QR codes by displaying posters and speaking to visitors directly. People who do not have the app or a compatible phone will be still be required to take part in contact tracing by providing their details using current test and trace methods. QR code posters can be created quickly and easily here.Download the app now from:Google Play Store Apple App Store More information on the app and how it affects businesses is available here. 

This year’s annual fireworks display in Clissold Park Hackney will not take place, the Council has confirmed. As issues surrounding the virus persist and lockdown measures continue to evolve, large public gatherings remain a risk to public health.