Alan Lewis of Constantine Law says events are moving rapidly with the Coronavirus. The Government publishes helpful daily updates at 2 pm at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

IOC fellow, Graham Thomas, FLEET OPERATIONS MANAGER - OCADO GROUP plc,

More people than usual seem to be placing particularly large food final mile orders. As a result, delivery slots are selling out quicker than expected, advice is to book two to three days in advance and if possible look for Monday to Thursday day time slots.

DEUTSCHE POST DHL GROUP addresses impact of CORONAVIRUS

DHL CEO Frank Appel, ‘It’s currently hard to judge how strong the impact of the Coronavirus will be’

Deutsche Post DHL Group, this week announced that its 2020 earnings guidance is, as of now, excluding any effect induced by the Coronavirus. Since the Chinese government introduced measures to contain the Coronavirus, DPDHL Group has been consistently monitoring the volume development in its networks. In recent weeks, trade volumes have weakened, not only on the inbound and outbound China trade lanes but also in other countries of Asia; constraints on industrial production are increasingly expected also outside of China.

The Group had seen a very good start into 2020 in January and was prepared for the usual effects around Chinese New Year in February when the measures of the Chinese government were introduced. Since then the business development in Post & Parcel Germany as well as in DHL Supply Chain and DHL eCommerce Solutions has only been marginally impacted by the Corona crisis. In contrast, the Group currently sees more significant effects for the DHL Express and DHL Global Forwarding divisions, where the business is particularly affected with regards to cross-border trade flows into and out of China. Group-wide the negative impacts of the Corona crisis on Group EBIT amount to around EUR 60-70 million for the month of February, compared to the initial internal planning.

Statutory Sick Pay will be made available from day 1 when self-isolating, instead of day 4...

Wednesday March 4th Updating Parliament on the Government’s response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs:

I can today announce that the Health Secretary will bring forward, as part of our emergency legislation measures, to allow the payment of Statutory Sick Pay from the very first day you are sick instead of four days under the current rules. No one should be penalised for doing the right thing.

Explaining the rationale for the measure, the Prime Minister had earlier said:

We are not at the point yet where we are asking large numbers of people to self-isolate, but that may of course come if large numbers have the symptoms.

If they stay at home, they are helping to protect all of us by preventing the spread of the virus. The change will be a temporary measure to respond to the outbreak and will lapse when it is no longer required.

Looking at the self-employed owner-driver - those who do not receive statutory sick pay...

UK.GOV says

There is a range of support in place for those who do not receive Statutory Sick Pay, including Universal Credit and contributory Employment and Support Allowance. The move will be included in emergency legislation to deal with coronavirus.

If an employee is not sick, but is in quarantine or self-isolation?...

Alan Lewis answers the question,

Alan Lewis explains,

The Health Secretary has said that those in self-isolation on medical advice should be treated as on sick leave and may be eligible for statutory sick pay (subject to the usual SSP criteria). So, it seems the Government’s current position is that someone who self isolates because they are given a written notice issued by a GP or by NHS 111 are deemed to be incapable of work and entitled to statutory sick pay. However, if somebody chooses to self-isolate, and/or is not given that written notice, they are not entitled to statutory sick pay.

It has been announced this week by the PM that SSP for medically advised quarantine will be paid from day one. Normally an employee has 3 waiting days when nothing is payable and SSP kicks in on day 4. Presumably this new arrangement is to encourage employees to remain off by removing at least some of the financial burden (albeit moving it to the employer, but preferable ultimately to coronavirus spreading throughout your workforce).

Negative impacts are likely to be outweighed by the positives.

DHL CEO Frank Appel continues.

Should the macroeconomic situation normalize again, there could also be positive effects for logistics companies. In case of a longer duration or a worsening of the current situation over the coming months, the negative impacts for the Group are likely to outweigh the positives. The concrete earnings impact can only be assessed after a normalization of the situation.