Mandatory Vaccinations for Care Home Staff

Written by Alyzeh Alam 

22nd July 2021 marked the date where the UK Parliament has approved the 2021 Regulations to the Health and Social Care Act 2008. This new change makes it mandatory for any individual working in a care home to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Parliament had allowed an initial grace period of 16 weeks, after which the regulations were enforced on the 11th of November 2021. The definition of an individual working in care home extends to not only employees working in care homes but also to agency workers, volunteers and anyone entering these homes for maintenance reasons. 

It is the responsibility of “registered persons” to ensure that any worker or volunteer is vaccinated or has an exemption. The evidence must state that they are either fully vaccinated or that there are clinical reasons as to why they are unable to be vaccinated. These “registered persons” are considered to be anyone who provides a service to care homes or is the registered manager in respect of providing personal care. 

Currently, the regulations will only apply to care homes in England, and they will be reviewed every 12 months. 

In an event where employees refuse to get vaccinated, the onus will be on the employer to explore the reasons for their refusal, and if found that there is no reasonable reason for them to not get the vaccine i.e. they are not medically exempt, the employer is likely to have to dismiss the employee. If an issue similar to this arises, employers are requested to ensure prompt action is taken in regard to such an employee. In case where a dismissal is required, the employer will still be required to go through a full and fair procedure before considering dismissal. 

The employer is now faced with greater responsibilities wherein they must ensure all employees and individuals entering care homes for work are aware of the vaccination requirement and have provided authentic evidence. 

The primary reason for this regulation, is of course to curb the spread of COVID-19, specifically in areas where individuals are more vulnerable to a disease that has already taken so many. The previous health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock stated, “Vaccines save lives and while staff and residents in care homes have been prioritised and majority are now vaccinated, we need to do everything we can to keep reducing the risk, this is the right thing to do a vitally important step to continue protecting care homes.” 

The general response by the UK public has been quite positive and in fact, many responses to the consultation make the case that this policy should be extended beyond care homes to other settings where individuals are vulnerable to COVID-19. 

However, a select group of individuals have expressed the view that the new regulations are, “unnecessary, disproportionate and misguided.” It is believed that civil liberty is a necessary component of strong public health, and the new regulations undermine this by vaccination by coercion. It is disagreed that this is not a form of forced vaccinations as any care-worker who refuses to be vaccinated will be dismissed. Furthermore, the UK government is criticised for placing the onus and duty to check vaccination statuses on registered providers, when they already have challenging occupations, and this regulation was not even instituted on their prerogative. 

Despite the backlash, parliament have continued forward with their plans and the law was enforced on November 11th, in line with the idea of the ‘public’s greater good’.

Other European countries example France have instituted the same rules, where all healthcare workers in France were required to be vaccinated by the 15th of September 2021 and if they did not comply, they were prohibited from working.