The government has confirmed that from Monday, 19 July, England will move into step 4 of the COVID-19 roadmap – meaning that all legal limits on social contact will be removed.
We are making plans for a managed return of staff, students and researchers back to campus. Initially over summer we will focus on returning people and increasing activity in a few priority areas, then we are planning for a wider return of further staff and students from Wednesday, 1 September for the new academic year. In the meantime, any facilities that are already open (such as the library) will remain so for students who are on campus over summer. There may be some changes as we prepare to transition back to a busier campus (for example, returning furniture to the library) – however we will do our best to keep any disruption to a minimum.
We will keep students updated with further information on campus facilities and services as we approach the new academic year in September.
We ask that, if you are on campus, you continue to follow these safety guidelines until Tuesday, 31 August:
· We strongly recommend that everyone continues to wear face coverings whilst moving around indoors on campus.
· The legal requirement for social distancing will no longer be in place. However please continue to observe any safety signage and guidance around campus.
· If you have COVID-19 symptoms or have tested positive, you are required to self-isolate and not come to campus for ten days. You can get further information on what to do here.
· If you are regularly coming to campus, we encourage you to get tested twice a week (even if you have no symptoms) – you can find out how to get tested on Student News.
· We encourage all our students, staff and researchers to get vaccinated if they can. However you will not be required to do this to return to campus, and we will not be recording or checking anyone’s vaccination status.
· You should continue to follow the government’s advice on travel – you can find out more on our travel FAQs.
We expect that there will be no restrictions on campus from Wednesday, 1 September – we will confirm this on Thursday, 19 August. However our planning for 2021/22 academic year takes into account that further government restrictions may be imposed, and we need to be ready to change our ways of working as required.
The next few weeks will mark a major step away from the life of restrictions we have all been living, but we have also seen how fast things can change. Thank you for everything you have done so far to help us reach this point. By continuing to take sensible precautions you continue to play an important role in keeping us all safe.
We’re really looking forward to welcoming everyone back and seeing the campus full of life again.