Reflections on the Suffolk Community Response to Covid-19

July 2020

Introduction

The Collaborative Communities Covid-19 Board (responsible for supporting local communities in Suffolk during the Coronavirus pandemic) is now planning for the ‘recovery’ or ‘restoration’ phase of Covid-19.

As part of this planning, we wanted to capture, from everyone involved in the response so far, what worked well and what could have worked better, in other words the key strengths and weaknesses, of the Covid-19 community response in Suffolk.

We also wanted to ensure that we considered the key opportunities, in terms of building on what has worked well, and threats (the things that might impact on the recovery from the impacts of Covid-19 in Suffolk).

By doing this in partnership we can design an effective recovery plan and, should there be any further outbreaks, ensure a seamless community response.

Community groups and organisations who had played an active part in the Covid-19 response in Suffolk were invited to consider a number of questions in relation to both the response in their local community and at a Collaborative Communities Board level (i.e. at a District/Borough and County level including the Home But Not Alone service).

The survey has now closed, and the responses have been analysed. Responses have been summarised below to allow for comparison and to help identify any trends and commonalities across them, as well as individually to highlight ideas and suggestions for the future.

Survey Analysis 114 groups and organisations responded to the online survey and took part in focus groups. All of the responses from both have been amalgamated to allow for analysis to take place.

To give an idea of where groups covered, they were asked which district they represented.

Which district do you or your group represent? 50 45 45 40 35 33 30 25 20 16 15 13 10 6 NumberofRespondents 5 3 0 All districts Ipswich Babergh Mid Suffolk West Suffolk East Suffolk

As can be seen, six organisations said that they covered every district in Suffolk. A further two groups said that they covered part of two districts (one group covered parts of Babergh and Ipswich, and another covered part of Ipswich and East Suffolk), so their responses have been included in each of the districts they worked in.

To give a flavour of the types of groups and organisations, respondents were asked in what capacity they were are completing the survey and could select all options that applied.

In what capacity respondents were are completing the survey (selecting all applicable options)

Other (please specify) 14

Professional (non-Local Government) 5

Faith Group 14

Representing my District or County Council (as a 4 councillor or officer)

Representing my Parish or Town Council (as a 34 councillor or Clerk)

Charity 13

Good Neighbour Scheme 15

Foodbank 7

Community Group that existed prior to Covid-19 23

Mutual Aid/C19 Community Response Group (don't 4 plan to continue post C19)

Mutual Aid/C19 Community Response Group (may 18 continue post C19)

Mutual Aid/C19 Community Response Group (plan 15 to continue post C19)

Business offering a response to the local community 3 re Covid-19

As a Social Media group helping to respond to 6 Covid-19 (online presence only)

As a resident in my local community 57

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

In the Other option, the following responses were made:

Other (please specify)

 L&P Communities Team at SCC.  Various volunteer led services and programmes for vulnerable communities.  Completely new group initially set up by myself to deal with Covid 19 issues.  Medical Practitioner

 Set up Phone Tree for village  Stowupland Emergency Planning Group  local vicar who has been in the parish for over 30 years  We are an ad hoc group with representatives from various village organisations and groups  I do happen to be a Parish Councillor but responding as an individual and not a councillor.  Parenting Support - Community Interest Company in Newmarket https://www.sharingparenting.com/  District and Town Councillor  I am a former Police Gold Commander  Concerned citizen!  I was until very recently also chair of Wickham market integrated care and health project.

In what capacity respondents were are completing the survey (selecting all applicable options), by district

Other (please specify)

Professional (non-Local Government)

Faith Group

Representing my District or County Council (as a councillor or officer)

Representing my Parish or Town Council (as a councillor or Clerk)

Charity

Good Neighbour Scheme

Foodbank

Community Group that existed prior to Covid-19

Mutual Aid/C19 Community Response Group (don't plan to continue post C19)

Mutual Aid/C19 Community Response Group (may continue post C19)

Mutual Aid/C19 Community Response Group (plan to continue post C19)

Business offering a response to the local community re Covid-19

As a Social Media group helping to respond to Covid-19 (online presence only)

As a resident in my local community

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

All districts Babergh East Suffolk Ipswich Mid Suffolk West Suffolk

1. STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 response in your local community?

The first question of the survey asked what respondents’ thought were the strengths that could be taken from the response at a Local Community Level.

A tree map to show the broad subject areas of what has gone well at a local level is below.

A chart to show the broad subject areas of what has gone well at a local level:

STRENGTHS: What Went Well Across Suffolk at a Local Level 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Adaptability Communications Community Projects Community Spirit District Councillor Employment flexibility Essential supplies Faith Funding Good Neighbour Scheme Group area divided into local sectors Health Services Local knowledge Luck! Fewer cases, fewer deaths, fewer cases of… Nothing done Numbers of volunteers Observation of lockdown guidelines Parish Council / Town Council efforts Partnership working Planning Referrals Specific Community Group Speed of response Suggestion Traffic reduction Treats Volunteering Young People

STRENGTHS: What worked well at a local level by district 25

Faith Faith Faith

Treats Treats

Funding Funding

Planning Planning Planning Planning

Referrals Referrals Referrals

Suggestion

Adaptability Adaptability Adaptability

Volunteering Volunteering Volunteering Volunteering Volunteering Volunteering

Nothing done Nothing

Young People Young

HealthServices HealthServices HealthServices HealthServices HealthServices

Localknowledge

Traffic reduction Traffic

Communications Communications Communications Communications

Community Spirit Community Spirit Community Spirit Community Spirit Community Spirit Community

District Councillor District

Community spirit Community

Community Spirit Community Spirit Community

Essential supplies Essential supplies Essential supplies Essential supplies Essential

Essential Supplies Essential

Speed of response of Speed response of Speed

Partnership working Partnership

Partnership working Partnership working Partnership

Community Projects Community

Employment flexibility Employment

Numbers of volunteers of Numbers volunteers of Numbers volunteers of Numbers volunteers of Numbers

Good Neighbour Scheme GoodNeighbour Scheme GoodNeighbour

Specific Community Group Community Specific Group Community Specific Group Community Specific

Observation of lockdown guidelines of Observation

Group area divided into local divided into sectors Grouparea local divided into sectors Grouparea local divided into sectors Grouparea local divided into sectors Grouparea

Parish Council / Town Council Town / efforts Council Parish Council Town / efforts Council Parish Council Town / efforts Council Parish Council Town / efforts Council Parish Luck! Fewer cases, fewer deaths, fewer cases fewer of… fewer deaths, Fewer cases, Luck! All districts Babergh East Suffolk Ipswich Mid Suffolk West Suffolk

2. STRENGTHS - What has worked well/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level?

Question 2 of the survey asked the same question, but this time asking respondents to think in terms of the strengths that could be drawn from the Covid-19 response at a District, Borough and County level.

As this question was asking for strengths, comments that were negative or simple don’t knows, were discounted from the broad analysis, but are included in the appendices in full.

STRENGTHS: What Went Well Across Suffolk at a District, Borough and County Level

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Able to respond to requests for mutual aid

Breaking down boundaries and getting things done

Business support

CAS and SCF coordination and response

Charity support

Collaborative Communities Board became model Suffolk System

Communcation and information sharing

Cooperation and teamwork

District / County Councillor(s) support

Foodbank / box deliveries and collections

Funding

Good refuse collection and public cleaning

Home But Not Alone Service single point of access

Hygiene bank donations from DC

Keeping the bus service going

Knowledgeable staff calling in referrals and providing advice and support if required

Links provided to much wider community

Parish Council / Town Council support

Speed of response

Taken seriously when alerted to difficulties regarding medication and delivery

Trusted to get on and ask if needed help

Volunteering teams

STRENGTHS: What Went Well Across Suffolk at a District, Borough and County Level, By District

Funding Funding Funding Funding Funding

Charity support Charity

Business support Business support Business

Speed ofresponse Speed ofresponse Speed

Volunteering teams Volunteering teams Volunteering

Cooperation and teamwork and Cooperation teamwork and Cooperation teamwork and Cooperation

Keeping the bus service going bus service the Keeping

Hygiene bank donations from DC from donations bank Hygiene

District / County Councillor(s) support Councillor(s) County / District support Councillor(s) County / District support Councillor(s) County / District

Parish Council / Town Council support Council Town / Council Parish support Council Town / Council Parish support Council Town / Council Parish

CAS and SCF coordination and response and coordination SCF and CAS

Communcation and information sharing information and Communcation sharing information and Communcation sharing information and Communcation sharing information and Communcation sharing information and Communcation

Trusted to get on and ask if needed help askneeded if and on get to Trusted

Foodbank / box deliveries and collections and deliveries box / Foodbank

Links provided to much wider community wider tomuch provided Links

Good refuse collection and public cleaning public and collection refuse Good

Able to respond to requests for mutual aid mutual for requests to respond to Able

Home But Not Alone Service single point of access of point single Service Alone Not But Home access of point single Service Alone Not But Home access of point single Service Alone Not But Home

Breaking down boundaries and getting things done things getting and boundaries down Breaking

Collaborative Communities Board became model Suffolk System Suffolk model became Board Communities Collaborative

Knowledgeable staff calling in referrals and providing advice and… advice providing and referrals in calling staff Knowledgeable and… advice providing and referrals in calling staff Knowledgeable and… advice providing and referrals in calling staff Knowledgeable and… advice providing and referrals in calling staff Knowledgeable and… advice providing and referrals in calling staff Knowledgeable and… advice providing and referrals in calling staff Knowledgeable Taken seriously when alerted to difficulties regarding medication… regarding difficulties to alerted when seriously Taken All districts Babergh East Suffolk Ipswich Mid Suffolk West Suffolk

3. WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this again?

The third question of the survey asked about weakness and what respondents’ thought could have worked better, or what they would do differently in hindsight at a Local Community Level.

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid-19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this again? 10

PPE

Funding

Speed of response of Speed

Human behaviour Human

Keep dogs on leads dogs Keep on

Reduce bureaucracy Reduce

Payment procedures Payment

Safeguardingsupport

Support for key workers key Supportfor

Communication support Communication

Out of date information of Out date

Regulations needenforcing Regulations

Technology - No mobile signal No - mobile Technology

Technology - Apps not working Apps - Technology

People don’t like to ask for to ask help People like don’t

Technology - not everyone online not - everyone Technology

More collaboration with local with GNS collaboration More

Technology - Poor Town Council IT Council Poor - Town Technology

Communications - Leaflets out earlier CommunicationsLeaflets -

Better communication avoid duplication avoid communication Better

Better communication of what is available of Bettercommunication

Shielding support - access to shops / goods / shops access - support to Shielding

GDPR issues identifying high risk / vulnerable / high risk identifying issues GDPR

Keep refuse sites open so people could so sites people garden open refuse Keep

Phone trees avoid people falling through cracks through trees falling people avoid Phone

Better Parish Council organisation / involvement / organisation BetterCouncil Parish

Co-ordination - Need regular review and reflectsessions review Need - and regular Co-ordination

Medical - issues with volunteers collecting prescriptions volunteers collecting with Medicalissues -

Volunteering - Sharing responsibilities amongvolunteers Sharing - responsibilities Volunteering

Publish a crisis number for things beyond scopegroup beyond of for Publish things crisis a number

Volunteering - Too many volunteers for the tasks needed for manytasks the Too - volunteers Volunteering

Technology - Setting up of some of the WhatsApp groups of some Setting - up Technology of

Operating in isolation means may have missed good may practice have missed isolation means Operatingin

Technology - Systems that relied on personal that numbers phone Systems - relied Technology

Open up markets to anyone that wanted to, not just to essential wanted anyone to, Openthat up markets

Track and trace - systems training and systems - up not and taken experience trace Track training

Essential supplies - Liaison as purchasing for multiple households multiple for purchasing as Liaison - supplies Essential

Volunteering - volunteers didn't realise what their roles would be roles would their what volunteers - realise didn't Volunteering

Essential supplies - Food and essential item shortages suppliesbeginning at Food - and item essential Essential

Track and trace - system more effectively organised at a local a atlevel organised more system - effectively and trace Track

Social Distancing Information - how to safely shop social at distance to safely how - Information Distancing Social

Parking charges and accessibility issue with one way one walking system issue with and accessibility charges Parking

Track and trace - should be run by Gp practices with extra resources extra with run should - practices by and trace Track Gp be

Essential supplies - Help to add people to vulnerable list for food list boxes for to add suppliesvulnerable people Help - to Essential

Co-ordination - Need to maintain hub presence to coordinate efforts from coordinate maintain efforts Need - to presence to hub Co-ordination

Need online list of what needs doing so could see what you could with whathelp so could you of online see what needs doing list Need

Central response team to co-ordinate response / avoid duplication required duplication avoid / response to co-ordinate team response Central

Emergency Planning - Plan needed that can be adapted for pandemic scenario for be neededcan adapted Plan - pandemic that Planning Emergency Volunteering - Difficulty getting volunteers to answer their phones in the early stages their in volunteers to the phones answer Difficulty - getting Volunteering

Appendices

Q1 - STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 response in your local community?

STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 District response in your local community? Communication – TS discussed how they did not have to rely on other organisations for information which has helped them. Home-Start also attend County-wide meetings so did not need to find new communications which sped up the process. Service Users – Home-Start Suffolk have been receiving high referrals from Lowestoft which they do not usually receive (highest referrals are usually from Ipswich, Stowmarket, West Suffolk and Felixstowe). TS said how it has been interesting to see where the high demand All districts has been, and this has enabled them to work with different people. We work across the whole of the county, the response has been mixed dependent on All districts areas, as has communication and involvement in plans. People coming together in local communities (community kindness). Very little local connections rather than the overarching ones that have made great difference. More people than ever coming together to volunteer. People have had the autonomy to just develop what's best for their community. Local communities - young and old - coming All districts together and embracing technology. Logical Plans rather than Strategic – SL discussed how the groups plans came from logic (and human nature) rather than strategic which has been great as it usually is not All districts the case. our volunteers have all stepped up and changed the way we offer support to our All districts clients. All districts Local help Lock down, phone call appointments by hospital and doctors surgery, prescription Babergh delivery Babergh Genuineness and reliability of volunteers. Continued donations for our food bank Prescription collection/delivery, 257 to 18 June. Almost all commissioned via Sudbury Community Network rather than District/Borough/Suffolk CC level. Also continuing Babergh with hospital transport for non-Covid patients. Our groups were set up to cover all areas of Hadleigh so local knowledge played a huge part. Leafleting all houses no red tape played a massive part in getting things done. Community pulling together using local knowledge using local produce to feed people with. Keeping our high street butchers Delicatessen going throughout this to help people get food. Fabulous volunteers and local chefs and pubs making meals. Setting up points of liaison with medical centre PPG pharmacy . Also by using people who knew their own areas helped identify elderly and those struggling and getting g to know who you shopped or fetched prescriptions for brought other areas of need out. Such as mental health issues. It also showed people who we were so rapport was built Babergh up Babergh COMMUNITY SPIRIT A consolidated approach to local help facilities and a leaflet drop to all homes with Babergh contact details coordinated by the Parish council. Joining up with our neighbouring village (Bedfield). Monk Soham households order with us weekly a variety of food from market stalls and local shops in Framlingham, we put in a big order to someone in the next village who coordinates the delivery to the next Babergh village's sports pavilion and then we pick it all up on a Saturday morning and deliver to

STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 District response in your local community? the households in Monk Soham. This started off with just a few market stalls and has developed into other stalls and shops getting involved. We also started all of this very early on so got going quickly. It has worked well for us to just pay the total bill and then ask households to transfer money to our account - prevents much cash being handled by using online banking. Our ability to respond quickly due to not being at school and working from home doing remote teaching - this has allowed us to pick up prescriptions etc. and shopping during the week days as well. Info bulletins, good précis and very useful to highlight what has changed Local Babergh knowledge meaning local focus support I am a member of the Parish Council and the Community Emergency Officer for the village. As soon a it was clear what was to happen, I arranged a meeting, identified eight volunteers and divided the village into four 'equal' regions (equal in approximate resident-numbers) with two volunteers per region. We then visited each dwelling, spoke with them and left them with a postcard with the volunteer's details, phone numbers and e-mail address as well as explaining what we could do for them (shop, pick-up prescriptions/medications, telephone for a 'safety'/'mental health wellbeing' chat - or anything else that they felt they would need help with). We also put our 'COVID19 Community Support Plan' on the village Facebook page and included an article in the Parish Magazine which is delivered to every dwelling/residence in the village - and the three other villages (as we are a benefice of four villages/Parishes). This was instituted by 10th March. The ensuing weeks and months showed that it was working and many people appreciated the contact and reassurance that the COVID19 Team was in place and there for them. We had set up a Community Emergency Plan (CEP) WhatsApp group by the end of March which has proved helpful in the rapid sharing of relevant and important information and expedited action. We have had no deaths (from any cause) since March and there have been no surprises... The biggest problem was trying to ensure that one particular resident who should have been observing lock-down and shielding was doing so and not putting neighbours at risk as well as making them very anxious. This resident required two firm but gentle visits from the local Police ; this was only partly effective. A predictable benefit from our approach and CEP Team is that we now everyone in the village (188 residents), including three or four that were completely 'under the radar' despite having lived in the village for over 30-40 years... We now know who they are and, with their consent (including GDPR), contact details of a family member or friend. In some ways, our COVID19 Team operated along the lines Babergh of the 'Good Neighbour Scheme' approach. Babergh Plenty of volunteers The creation of the Sudbury Community Network has been very positive - they are coordinating the distribution of volunteers & providing a central point of contact for people Babergh needing help, they are also distributing excess food stocks from supermarkets. The best thing was the spontaneous development of an informal network to coordinate Babergh and carry out shopping, food delivery and prescription collection for those self isolating Babergh Mini leaflets were good but they seemed to have stopped coming Already having links with a suitable volunteers through faith groups in the area who we East Suffolk know have references and DBS checks. Supportive volunteers in the community Although the uptake has been very low, it is useful for parishioners to know that the Parish Council has set up a help line if they East Suffolk need support. Beccles COVID group was set up in March with stakeholders from 3 tiers of local East Suffolk council, churches, social Prescribing, community transport. Works well supporting all.

STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 District response in your local community?

East Suffolk Willingness of the helpers to respond to requests for help. We have organised a team of volunteers with safe-guarding and other precautions, for shopping, collecting prescriptions, social phone calls and even emergency gardening. Plenty of local deliveries from food shops and outlets (local pub). Sharing of vegetable plants, and also clay by a local potter who will fire what people create. I circulate a community email and any information can be passed on via this means. We also have East Suffolk a community website. Volunteers with DBS and good people skills. Relevant agencies/departments with East Suffolk good local knowledge Central to our response was the early decision to treat this as a major incident for the town and put in place the personnel, processes and structures required to address this level of threat. Our response planning began on 15/3 and we were therefore in a good position when the lockdown occurred a week later. Quickly establishing a core partnership response team supported by volunteers from across the community was key to our ability to respond to the challenges posed by the virus. The partnership team identified the key local challenges and put in place a plan to address them. This encompassed both Framlingham and the surrounding villages. We were very lucky to have in place an organisation, the Hour Community charity, that could provide practical support for the most vulnerable in the community. As the infection progressed, using open source information, from the UK and abroad, we tried to anticipate likely developments in the future and plan appropriate responses ahead of time. So for example in April we began planning with the Town Council for a return to a new normality and carried out risk assessments on the implications for the town of the lockdown being relaxed. The response plan can be found on our website - East Suffolk Framlingham.com Initializing having 150 volunteers mobilized v quickly – split into sectors with leads helped with demand and fatigue. Lots of skills and experience in the community that we could benefit from. Worked well with established charity in the town – supported East Suffolk each other. Using tech such as zoom A quick response before lockdown by the Town Council and a major local charity to set East Suffolk up a Covid Response Team and appeal for volunteers Over 100 volunteers responded with Parish council support. Strong local community and local businesses supported. Split local area into sectors with volunteer leads for each one that helped cope with demand. Use of Zoom has been helpful for communication Purged data every 20 days to get rid pf personal data no longer required and to adhere to GDPR We have mapped out trends e.g. now know that every 3 weeks we get a surge in prescription requests Youth of village have been East Suffolk great Community has generally observed the lockdown rules. Essential shops did a great job, East Suffolk including those that added home delivery-local restaurants delivered widely. East Suffolk Plenty of Volunteers, good coordination by the PC and Village communication emails Prompt and relevant communication to all residents. Network to provide ongoing support during and post C19. Increased community cohesion. Lots of people out East Suffolk walking and cycling - reduced traffic through the village. Friends, families and neighbours in communities were amazing and really helped with the response – leaving us to support those alone and most vulnerable. We gave treats East Suffolk and fun to local people e.g. flowers and plants Really good local knowledge A staffed community group that could co-ordinate the response with staff capacity. East Suffolk Well-established relationships with community groups, parish councils which meant

STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 District response in your local community? high level of trust and made it easy to share volunteers and facilities i.e. using HACT bus to transport shopping. Great to have the Blyth Valley Team Ministry fully committed. Use of old school paper posters, info cards, newsletters to inform local community plus increased presence on social media. Amazing contribution from people volunteering for the first time. Very clearly defined tasks: shopping, prescription collection, telephone support did not dilute volunteering effort which means it has been sustained. Amazing support from whole community, from shops and businesses and healthcare providers, ASC. A true community response. People really appreciated treats and little gifts. East Suffolk Dividing the Town into Cocoons and having Hour Community to deliver the services Our new IP17GNS (Good Neighbour Scheme) which was set up quickly and professionally with good support from right across our community and with generous East Suffolk funding by ESC and SCF etc We had an abundance of volunteers from the very start which allowed us to help East Suffolk everyone that phoned or emailed. Greater use of our village website, notice board and email list. This enables keeping residents informed of any developments locally. Sufficient volunteers to help others if East Suffolk required. The response of the village in supporting residents in terms of helping with shopping East Suffolk and making phone and personal contact with those most vulnerable I am a volunteer doing prescription runs. We also have a community WhatsApp group so people can get help with shopping; medicines, chats etc. Health centre pharmacy is East Suffolk brilliant - no queue usually. The community spirit in our street is fantastic. The Good Neighbour Scheme adapted quickly to the new demands placed upon it by East Suffolk Covid-19. The response was almost immediate, volunteers came forward before the lockdown to help to deliver leaflets to the whole community offering assistance through our newly formed helpline. we also had a great response from volunteers to carry out the requests, and so in the first week of restrictions we had over 40 to call upon. To date East Suffolk we are still able to offer the same level of support. East Suffolk Willingness to volunteer to help, the assistance of businesses to aid the volunteer effort People have obeyed guidelines. We put out regular newsletters and formed a community response committee. Mutual Aid group with 400 members - worked with East Suffolk STC foodbank, VHC and Sole Bay Care. The community is aware of the support available and all requests for help have been East Suffolk fulfilled Our Good Neighbours Wickham market scheme has worked well, the over 70s being temporary replaced by 12 under 60s total vols now 30 busy with prescription collection and delivery, food shopping and much befriending by phone and at 2 metres distance. Several hospital runs but these have been much reduced from the pre C19 period.eg East Suffolk the GNS Wickham group annually provide over 1000 jobs/tasks. Somerleyton used a centralized telephone system that helped with demand and fatigue East Suffolk of volunteer coordinators East Suffolk Communication either from social media or phone chains East Suffolk Our local Good Neighbour Scheme The cocoon system of area co-ordinators and cocoons of volunteers has been very effective in supporting people. On one occasion it responded to an emergency very East Suffolk well. The co-ordination of all the groups and other local support services was well

STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 District response in your local community? organised and effective. It has pulled the town together and created a resilient resource and asset for the community. Local groups who had volunteers who shopped, collected prescriptions and chatted East Suffolk with people who were self isolating. Quick response by local team (Elfrede etc) to support community. Big team of East Suffolk volunteers. (1) Volunteering to shop for and help those who are isolating. (2) Frequent updates on opening times/contact details and services provided by local shops and restaurants and health services. (3) local churches keeping in touch with people in the community (4) particular attention paid by volunteer organisers to people who may be alone (5) on-line group through the next-door app to put people with mental health concerns in touch with each other and with people who can help. (6) frequent communications from the local library to entertain and help families keep in touch (7) lockdown community East Suffolk gardening and arts projects organised by SouthGen. People stepping up and supporting one another. Volunteers helping the more vulnerable. People showing they can shop local and will support local businesses. Councillors and community members making themselves known and standing together to support people in Beccles and respond to the guidelines - such as closing the parks East Suffolk etc. East Suffolk Volunteer group well organised by David Beavan East Suffolk volunteer groups. Information sources The Parish Council made sure by organising a mail shot to all residents in the Parish that help offered by a team of volunteers was offered. This worked well by supplementing residents support networks that they had in place where needed. The volunteer team were able to advise and facilitate help to overcome problems along with East Suffolk practical help. not working shutting roads in Beccles also barriers outside Durrants don't work make passing safely impossible we need a one way walking system like Southwold shops are East Suffolk all working well East Suffolk The community coming together helping each other Church support Local support and information via Facebook Local shops offering East Suffolk deliveries Luck! - Fortunately, locally we have had fewer cases, fewer deaths, and fewer cases of East Suffolk dislocation and loneliness in the community. East Suffolk Local people supporting their neighbours Lock down, phone call appointments by hospital and doctors surgery, prescription Ipswich delivery Already having links with a suitable volunteers through faith groups in the area who we Ipswich know have references and DBS checks. Some organisations adapted immediately to new ways of working to maintain and in some cases increase support for their service users/beneficiaries. People who had previously not expressed any interest in volunteering came forward to help in their own and in wider communities. organisations collaborated and cooperated by sharing Ipswich resources and offering some joined up services. The Parish Council took the lead in our small village and so we were in control of those needing help for medication, food, postal services, and distribution of information etc from the beginning and hopefully that has been appreciated. Our District Councillor has Mid Suffolk been particularly helpful and efficient during lockdown.

STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 District response in your local community? Brilliant response by volunteers in the community - lasting friendships forged, elderly and lonely people provided for, both in terms of essential items, but also in terms of companionship (on the phone or end of the path mostly!), better village relationships, more interest in the work of the Parish Council, willingness to set up a post-Covid Mid Suffolk community group. Communities pulling together. Offering support for shopping, medication deliveries and Mid Suffolk contact with those needing help. Huge response to a church initiative from those who are not regular churchgoers. Also, our structure, which made all volunteers both helpers and recipients of help, was highly Mid Suffolk popular. Good community effort in our tiny village - a small group of us were able to organise before the lockdown and respond straight away to requests for help with shopping, Mid Suffolk prescriptions etc Normal excellent community neighbourly help. Business response - pub turned instantly into hot food ordering/delivery and village store. Small support team in place to help shop/fetch/carry. Not much required, but excellent results when needed Mid Suffolk Delivery services from our nearby town, Hartleston. Excellent help. Mid Suffolk Everybody willing to muck in and help People from the community shopping and picking up medicines for those isolated, Mid Suffolk Foodbank. Mid Suffolk Good Neighbour Scheme was working throughout the lockdown period. Mid Suffolk CAS phone call referrals The setting up by the parish council of a group to assist with shopping, collecting Mid Suffolk prescriptions etc. We acted early, before lockdown, and had most of our plan in place by the end of the first week of lockdown Having a Buddy System to help the vulnerable. Excellent Mid Suffolk community spirit Woolpit Volunteers – KP said how the Woolpit community strength has been amazing, along with their volunteers. The initial letter that was sent out of the 18th March, got distributed to 92 households that had 136 vulnerable with 178 volunteers come forward. KP spoke about how they have divided their village with volunteers who live closest to the most vulnerable which has been a success. The volunteers have helped with a range of support including food and medication supplies and being car park marshals at their pharmacy. Woolpit Primary Academy – This primary school has been providing pack lunches for students on FSM. KP said how she is unsure of their Mid Suffolk plan doing the summer holidays. Mid Suffolk community involvement and local people supporting each other. Strength of community in a small village looking out for each other. We were up and Mid Suffolk running very quickly when lockdown was announced We've had an excellent whole community response with many, many individuals Mid Suffolk supporting each other and those in their immediate vicinity West Suffolk Collaboration between the GNScheme and the Parish Council Clear vision and putting long term strategies in place (resident volunteer group) West Suffolk Processes we designed to record and manage requests West Suffolk Number of volunteers available to help Care networks run by West Suffolk council, the Churches and others, like the Rickshaw + public space keep open and used wisely - enough shops and public service keeping West Suffolk open West Suffolk Having phone numbers advertised to call for help. Social media village groups.

STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 District response in your local community? The joint response group set up by the Town Council, Baptist Church and CLASP West Suffolk (community group) with support from Jim Meikle (District Councillor) West Suffolk Willingness of volunteers to volunteer West Suffolk People helping each other West Suffolk The volunteers coming together to come up with a working system. Village WhatsApp group works well - basically if anyone needs anything they can post and someone will help - it's been a good way of keeping spirits up as well. As lockdown has lifted a bit we have been making group food orders for takeaways to support local businesses. Everyone has made an effort to stop and ask if everyone is West Suffolk OK and we know who our vulnerable residents are and who is looking after them. West Suffolk Online videos, social media and zoom meetings West Suffolk The volunteer group set up under the umbrella of the Parish Council Immediate identification of need for support group Team working. Effective, regular, excellent communication using newsletters, new WhatsApp groups, email, telephone, social media and word of mouth. Positive experience Clear objectives Keeping focussed and adapting to change based on need Making a difference for our village in time of need, identifying, reacting and contributing to local needs/requests in a timely manner. Well organised team. Introduction of different groups to deal with the: 1. Weekly Market stall/Veggie Box arrangement 2.Volunteer Group to respond to West Suffolk requests for help. 3.Co-ordinators 4,Newsletter editor and distribution team. Lightwave working well with HBNA, immediate response and continue to do so. Great support from local PC received funding. Local surgery was excellent and helped connect us to vulnerable members of the community Providing joy to local people West Suffolk through delivery of Easter eggs for example The collective selflessness of a lot of the community has been amazing! Matilda Rose Action Squad have been really successful in helping people and they seem to have a West Suffolk really good relationship with the community. Local pre-existing organisations and a parish 3 mobile phone help/hot line. Covid 19 West Suffolk has strengthened community cohesiveness. Newmarket Volunteers and Groups –DH said how it’s been reassuring for individuals to know that there is support out there. Racing Centre – DH has been working well with West Suffolk the Racing Centre (especially John Gilbert). The distribution of prescriptions has worked well. Woolpit Pharmacy has been West Suffolk particularly efficient. Friends, neighbours etc helping with shopping, prescriptions and similar. Village West Suffolk community shop staying open and supplying essentials Initiating a telephone tree has led to new supportive friendships being formed in our village which I’m sure will continue. This has gained its own momentum so I as co- West Suffolk ordinator make very little intervention. Risby Volunteers and Groups – JS discussed how the vulnerable have really appreciated the initial leaflet drop, even if they were fine. Rota System for Volunteers – Risby had a rota system that worked well for their volunteer ‘shifts.’ This particularly allowed their volunteers not to burn out. Old Trusts – Risby had issues with money at the beginning for Hardship cases but JS discussed they received support from three West Suffolk Old Trusts that have been running in their village for years and kindly gave them £300. Regular contact with my Parish Clerk. I sent out a flyer to every household the first week of lockdown and asked immediately for volunteers to help. Posted an article in village mag with my contact number and explained what the group could do to help. But West Suffolk speed was the important thing to reassure people quickly.

STRENGTHS - What has worked/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 District response in your local community? Support for neighbours and those locked down and/or shielding. Support for key West Suffolk workers. In our village, Barnham, we baked cakes weekly for up to 30 key workers West Suffolk Organisation and communication Early communications with all households in the village has created many neighbour alliances with food deliveries and pinpointed any special needs i.e. prescription pick West Suffolk ups, which have been dealt with. West Suffolk Local villages worked well together. Parish Council funded us I am involved with a local charity which has delivered food to food banks and then to individuals plus pharmaceuticals to those shielding or at risk. This seems to have West Suffolk worked very well and been well received by the beneficiaries. West Suffolk Communication , shopping, medicine collection Lots of different organisations and individuals have some together in a positive and pro- West Suffolk active way West Suffolk Nothing done West Suffolk Food parcels from local church West Suffolk Newmarket Coronavirus Volunteer Network

2. STRENGTHS - What has worked well/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level?

STRENGTHS - What has worked well/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) District level? At a county level we have been well informed. We sit on a number of the countywide Cell All districts groups so are informed via this route. Lots of funding was made available to food banks. The single point of access with Home But Not Alone has been excellent and has made a positive difference to people's lives. Calls answered straight away. This Collaborative Communities Board etc really has become the model Suffolk System - health, local authorities, police, community organisations coming together as one. Breaking down boundaries and getting things done. The infographics showing key achievements has been useful. CAS (and SCF) have been particularly invaluable with the coordination and response. CAS interested in providing what the VCS need, training to reopen village halls, funding advice, volunteer management guidance. The Public Health Communities at SCC collated, researched and provided qualitative data that supported the information behind the Suffolk Home but not alone helpline. Suffolk Infolink has proven once again, that it is excellent at collating information more broadly, is an excellent communications tool and at keep community information up-to-date. The mailing lists have been vital in thanking people such as Parish councillors. Suffolk has much better information and plans for the future in All districts working effectively. unsure - I think that on the whole agencies have reached out to each other to ensure All districts support. All districts Speed Babergh Access to advice See above - very few prescription deliveries via Collaborative Communities Board Babergh (typically 2 from Suffolk CC per week and none via Babergh DC).

STRENGTHS - What has worked well/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) District level? Liaised with a fabulous contact in Babergh who helped with difficult cases and provided Babergh telephone contacts. Other than that not needed any assistance Babergh THEY ARE THERE IF YOU NEED HELP Babergh Parish council has kept us informed of updates and helped with completion of paperwork Babergh The message is consistent I do not feel that the CCB has been of any practical benefit or use to our village. This is not a criticism of the CCB and almost certainly reflects the fact that as a village community, we came together rapidly (mid-March) with a COVID19 Team plan that Babergh covered all bases and thereby prevented any potential issues in our village. No direct experience to comment on, funding has been offered to us but we haven't Babergh needed to access it. East Suffolk Links with East Suffolk Communities officer for the area. East Suffolk To act as a central point for enquiries which can then be disseminated to local volunteers East Suffolk Getting referrals and hygiene bank donations from District Council communities team. East Suffolk No visibility We have appreciated the grant to our Playing Field Association to compensate for loss of earnings from our community pavilion. We have arranged actual Food Bank collections from a phone box and encouraged financial donations. We have also made a donation East Suffolk from the Parish Council. Some community groups covering whole areas which has reduced demand for district East Suffolk council response. Team with relevant skill set to deal with referrals e.g.; mental health. We were well funded by the Council during the response and this enabled us to ensure practical support could be delivered to the vulnerable and appropriate safety messaging East Suffolk could be resourced for the town. The daily update from County level was useful. Providing some funding to support extra costs arising from essential support and East Suffolk responses to the Covid crisis and lockdown East Suffolk Plenty of information available East Suffolk Communication. Business support. Excellent support from East Suffolk Council, Community Action Suffolk, and Suffolk Community Foundation. We were trusted to get on with its and when we had problems, East Suffolk we could contact ES or CAS for support. Excellent support from Community Team at East Suffolk, we knew each other and trusted each other. Hardship Funds have been excellent, easy to access and at height of pandemic easy to apply to. E-newsletters have been useful and very helpful to have the East Suffolk Communities Team sharing our news with local media. The Town Council have been doing the Collaborative work, but when I need to speak to East Suffolk someone I always got through Focus and cooperation on particular issues which came to light and were not expected such as care home testing regimes, homelessness, social issues and increasing poverty. East Suffolk Plus some general ideas and prompts at the beginning We have great support from both East Suffolk Communities team and access Community East Suffolk Trust East Suffolk More frequent newsletters and bulletins from the County and District Councillors. East Suffolk Council – SC spoke about how the communication and support with ESC East Suffolk has been great. We are a small village and have not had much contact with the above, however it has East Suffolk been helpful to have a point of contact available if needed

STRENGTHS - What has worked well/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) District level? We have had no interaction with the Board, apart from email updates which frequently East Suffolk duplicate other email updates. Support and advice from the 'Home But not Alone' service was helpful when dealing with East Suffolk difficult requests for help or assistance. East Suffolk District council efforts to make funding available with minimum red tape East Suffolk We worked well with ESC Communities team who fed us requests. East Suffolk Council Officers were great, and Community Action Suffolk were helpful. East Suffolk Got a grant from East Suffolk Council East Suffolk The communications have been very helpful Our GNS group liaised with churches and Parish Council for support and spreading of East Suffolk loads. CAS much in help re advice and publicity and digital support. East Suffolk Communication of information on social media East Suffolk Not really aware East Suffolk It was good to be able to talk to Lizzy when we needed to Community Action Suffolk Newsletters with information. Support for businesses, charities East Suffolk and believe emergency food deliveries. East Suffolk Didn’t perceive anything being done at this level The supply of the food boxes for the vulnerable and those shielding have been helpful and delivered effectively and efficiently. There is room for improvement here though in terms of the content of the boxes. I think the local councillors of Beccles, particularly those who happen to be of the green party, have been excellent and maintaining an effective way of supporting the community and have been very proactive, as well as keeping people informed via social media and other platforms, of the updates and changes etc and other information needed to be communicated. They have also responded very well, politely and professionally, in the face of significant criticism at times East Suffolk from individuals online. The Strengths have been as experienced. It was taken seriously when they were alerted to the difficulties regarding medication and delivering. It was not correct for surgeries to be relying on a stream of volunteers to break lock down driving for frequent visits to East Suffolk collect in response to calls from residents. East Suffolk the volunteer teams that have been delivering to the people self isolating Out Town, District and County councillors were all very active supporting and answering East Suffolk queries. They also didn't forget the smaller villages. East Suffolk I haven’t seen any support from Suffolk East Suffolk The regular newsletters have been well received, despite the overly upbeat nature. East Suffolk Too slow too disjointed but single number for Home But Not Alone good Ipswich Links with East Suffolk Communities officer for the area. Not familiar with this structure/title - At borough level our organisation was able to respond to requests for mutual aid where other groups could not in areas of the borough Ipswich that did not have community led groups of their own. Referrals for help needed locally received directly from Chris Knock, External Funding Mid Suffolk Officer (i.e. just one source) Mid Suffolk Excellent information sharing - we have really appreciated the clear communications. Mid Suffolk Communications have been excellent. Mid Suffolk Links provided to much wider community

STRENGTHS - What has worked well/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) District level? Don't know! We're just a little group of volunteers, I wasn't aware there was a Collaborative Communities Board. We have had great contact and support from Mid Suffolk individuals within the council, though (Aruna). I believe the DC coordinated the business funding support. Worked well with our two Mid Suffolk businesses Mid Suffolk Everybody willing to muck in and help Was given a grant to help with deliveries for Foodbank, and had people referred to us so Mid Suffolk we can make contact through phone trees etc. Mid Suffolk Liaison with MSDC through our District Councillors. Mid Suffolk knowledgeable staff calling in referrals and available for assistance where needed. The communication and assurance that help is needed. The £10000 business grant to the village hall to assist with keeping finances on an even keel. A grant of £250 from MSDC for COVID expenses part of which used to expenses in running community group, Mid Suffolk part for Zoom subscription. For the Woolpit PC Coronavirus Emergency Team the District/Suffolk level have had Mid Suffolk nothing to offer is Locality Grants – KP discussed how they applied for a Mid Suffolk Locality Grant, which Mid Suffolk they have not used but said how quickly the turn-around was for this. You were good at keeping in contact with all the local villages and groups. Keeping the Mid Suffolk bus service going was great. Good to have regular communications about what is available and what other areas are Mid Suffolk doing Mid Suffolk Plenty of information and advice has been available West Suffolk Advice and support when needed District/Borough - no involvement, guidance or even interest throughout the whole period. A disgrace. Useful to have the Facebook group for leaders. early information from the Council about government parcels etc was useful at that stage. Home but not Alone West Suffolk initiative as one point of call West Suffolk Information on website West Suffolk As above + god refuse collection and public cleaning We haven't really needed to access that level of things, but have been glad to know that West Suffolk you've got our backs if we need anything. Jim Meikle's personal involvement throughout has proved invaluable. Mary Evans' daily West Suffolk emails have been informative and helpful in maintaining a broader view of the situation. Babergh moved quickly - Authorisation Letters for Cockfield Village Support were offered quickly. Press releases (which I get as Editor of the Village Magazine) pinpointed grants West Suffolk available for organisations and companies West Suffolk Lots of communication The volunteers have worked tirelessly to rally around and help the community. Ideas back and forth on how to make things work more effectively and these have been put in place quickly. Phone calls being taken by the council really helped take a load as it became West Suffolk increasingly busy. The central coordination now that its in place has been good - very impressed with the West Suffolk people I've spoken to - particularly Katrina West Suffolk Central telephone number for support and coordination West Suffolk Each Parish has been kept well informed of what is happening.

STRENGTHS - What has worked well/is working well in terms of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) District level? Daily updates emailed to all support group members via Chair of PCC/Team leader. West Suffolk Updates full of useful resources. Kept us abreast of developments and support. Communication has been amazing and great team work between our services and the West Suffolk council etc. West Suffolk Communication West Suffolk Council – DH said how they have worked with Will Wright from West Suffolk West Suffolk Council and he has been helpful and supportive. Covid information and areas of help have been readily available. Contact names provided West Suffolk has been useful back up if needed. West Suffolk Fall back system of help and support from the Parish Council although little used. Some referrals have come to us of people feeling isolated or in need of practical support, West Suffolk who we wouldn’t otherwise have connected with. West Suffolk Council – JS said how they have worked with Will Wright from West Suffolk West Suffolk Council and he has been helpful and supportive. I asked for guidance re financial issues and got a very speedy response from our local West Suffolk County Councillor. Our District Councillor funded payment for flour and sugar for cakes. The support given to those who are shielding through the Home but not alone scheme has been very good West Suffolk indeed and very prompt. West Suffolk Helping out local businesses to connect West Suffolk Councillor Mary Evans has been brilliant with daily updates. Great support from families and communities’ team and the safeguarding team at West West Suffolk Suffolk. West Suffolk Can't really comment on this. West Suffolk I have seen a lot of information but haven’t needed services Excellent day to day support from WS officer Jon Eaton and WS Cllr Jim Meikle; locality grant readily available ;background support from SCC Cllr M Evans; good support from West Suffolk CAS with DBS checks West Suffolk Apparently nothing done or communicated Town council has been prominent but very disappointed by reintroduction of parking charges and one way system in Newmarket. Very poor support for our elderly or those West Suffolk with accessibility issues to be forced to use a one way system

3. WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this again?

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this District again? We were able to mobilise an additional 160 hrs of support capacity, moved our service to a virtual offer and provided increased capacity to the CCGs via the emotional wellbeing hub utilising in the main existing funding routes, if I had to do this again we would aim to All districts increase the external funding support to our work.

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this District again? Lack of accessibility and connectivity has been a problem for those socially isolated in our communities, especially as we have largely moved to technology. There was too much trust in the beginning - of volunteers, of groups etc, which then led to a loss of trust, with scams etc. Fear and being frightened of COVID, of what is happening. More work All districts in place to reassure and alleviate these sooner. All districts how/where to obtain funding and the speed of receiving it All districts Someone in charge of links and Partnerships ALL dogs to be kept on leads at ALL times. This would have helped my state of mind and Babergh less stressful when outside.

Babergh Better Parish Council organisation and support in helping us to establish our service Babergh Better communication links to avoid duplication/cancellation of prescription deliveries

Babergh I wouldn’t as our groups came together quickly and effectively and worked well. We volunteered and then there was quite a bit of paperwork, which nearly put us off but Babergh the parish councillor really helped us here. First weeks a bit slow to help community groups - by the time the info had come out most Babergh CIL orgs had formed and found the info elsewhere No particular weakness, other than that exemplified by any human behaviour and as manifest in the one resident who felt 'above the law' and entitled to do what they wanted Babergh and with no obvious concern or insight about their neighbours' health and anxieties. Not sure. It has to be remembered that most of the elderly do not have computers etc so Babergh communication is by phone, visit or recommendation Everything just needed to be set up quicker but as it was the first time a corporate Babergh community response was needed, I think they did well under the circumstances. Babergh Within the time frame it was excellent and learned as it went along If the what needs doing or who needs help was an online list so you could see what you Babergh could help with Not knowing whether we should leaflet drop in the area or whether this was being taken care of by Home But Not Alone. We would have got leaflets out earlier in the event of East Suffolk another such incident. East Suffolk Cannot think of anything more that we could have done as a community. No weaknesses have been identified. Robust and successful. Four councillor cascade 0300 contact number through every door in district and robust response from volunteers East Suffolk in community. Willingness of the community to ask for help. Many are of an age and stage in life where East Suffolk they "don't want to be any bother" or have a blitz type mentality and just get on with it. Not sure at the moment - I think this will be easier to assess when those who have been East Suffolk active can meet face to face rather than just via Zoom or indirectly.

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this District again? Started out working from home but due to level of referrals this didn't work. Constantly on the phone seeking advise. Rather than be sent home and shut doors to our office, we should have had the community hub set up when we suspected lockdown. The district team should have been in one, same location. Impossible to have been as successful if expectation was to continue working from home. Team had asked numerous times to have a 'hub' keeping social distancing and keeping teams to 5 people for example. Didn't feel prepared and appreciate no one did, but there wasn't a contingency/emergency plan for Covid19 or similar, if there was/is/ we were unaware. No one from emergency planning contacted us. First 3 weeks was information overload coming from everywhere. No clear process to follow, so disparity across County. We made up our own process, set our own criteria for giving food parcels etc. Organisations providing spreadsheets of organisations who could help, but out of date. No volunteers forthcoming until week 2 of lockdown. Tribe was useless! So many volunteers we later found for ourselves had negative comments about Tribe as well as officers. We gave up on that and managed to secure our own volunteers from friends/family members & via our Facebook Page. Little input from Town Council - This was due to being informed the age group would either be East Suffolk shielding or self isolating. Throughout it felt that we were operating in isolation without connectivity with other responding bodies in the County and I am concerned that we might have missed good East Suffolk practice being applied elsewhere or the opportunity to engage in mutual support. The ability to be in contact with shielded people more easily. The inability of the NHS to inform local support groups who actually needs help - this took too long to set up. Many people were panicking about getting their medicines and how to pay for them, and how to East Suffolk do food shopping when supermarket deliveries were impossible to book. More support from ESC-we had to do our own communication and the local paper East Suffolk seemed only interested in ESC backed groups. East Suffolk More of village on village email would help, some are suspicious of it. No PPE for volunteers during acute phase. Not much else, really. Maybe more around East Suffolk food and essential items shortages at the start. East Suffolk no planning for second wave The downside of having a very focused 'offer' was that we had too many volunteers... and people didn't like the message 'we don't need you yet...' Our local staff team at the Coop East Suffolk were brilliant but their HO weren't quite as helpful East Suffolk Not Much to be honest Having an emergency plan (EAP) which could be adapted to the unusual problems created by a pandemic - for example, an EAP is all about sheltering people together and for a short time (say 24 -48 hours) after a single incident. And then there are the GDPR issues about trying to identify who are the most prone in a community - the pandemic has helped us develop and evolve our EAP very quickly and made everyone much more aware of the needs for community self-help and resilience. To have recruited over 120 volunteers at the height over the Easter weekend was absolutely remarkable - usually its the same old, half dozen (and I mean older!) willing volunteers, so it has brought the community much closer together, improved its confidence and the support provided by East Suffolk Saxmundham Town Council has been crucial to our success I honestly feel we did everything could have possibly done, we were all geared up from East Suffolk day one.

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this District again? With no mobile signal to speak of track and trace, if it ever comes about, just won't work! GDPR decimated our parish email list and it has taken a lot of work in persuading East Suffolk residents to re-join it. Pharmacies – SC discussed how the pharmacies did not see themselves as a wider network, and the volunteers had to explain their roles multiple times to get the prescribed East Suffolk medication collected for the vulnerable East Suffolk Possibly a central response team to do ordinate response Ensure the elderly had more support right from the beginning. Lots of them too proud to East Suffolk ask for help Phone rota holders now support each other better. We did not predict how busy we were East Suffolk going to be. Although on completely new ground, I feel we addressed the situation sympathetically East Suffolk from the outset, giving no reason to think that we should have done things differently. East Suffolk Too many volunteers for the tasks needed East Suffolk We had 400 volunteers with very little to do It felt like we were an isolated bubble and there was no real communication with East Suffolk surrounding groups Much of our young recruitment was via the w mkt Coronavirus Facebook group, maybe we would have publicised this sooner via our digital Village Round robin, Parish News, East Suffolk Neighbours digital pages. Systems that relied on people using their personal phone numbers for the community to East Suffolk use. Need to have regular review and reflect sessions In our small community I don’t think We could have done anything different to achieve East Suffolk what we did Seemed to work OK locally as we made arrangements for food, support and prescriptions East Suffolk etc early The IT owned by the Town Council was poor and there were not enough resources to quickly pay for essential items. The process required to purchase signage etc was far East Suffolk too slow. Didn't get leaflets out to households early enough, the lockdown was upon us before our local group reacted. We would try and get leaflets out to households earlier, have information about local electricians, plumbers still working; have more idea of whom to call with concerns about people's physical well being e.g. a 94 year old living alone who initially had no support with dressing her ulcerated legs. Neighbours phoned our group East Suffolk and the initial contacts were lost as to whom to contact. Stricter control over shopping guidelines. Not everyone who is able to shop alone did. East Suffolk Causes stress for customers and staff. East Suffolk Nothing could have been improved- provision was excellent. Too much negativity and scaremongering on social media. People sharing information that is clearly untrue. Greater control needed of what people posts so as not to intimidate East Suffolk and scare people. Track and trace should be run by GP practices with extra resources . No one would slip East Suffolk through the net and a much better personalised delivery of care. East Suffolk enforcement of regulations.

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this District again? It is very important on many levels that GP surgeries and pharmacies have a delivery system in place for medication to patients, including repeat needs. Volunteers should not be picking up and delivering medications, this was a weakness very quickly realised. Sanitised proper measures to safely and reliable safe delivery should not be expected of East Suffolk community volunteer, but by properly cleared personnel. ask the community to get more involved perhaps leaflets through sports on how to safely East Suffolk shop using social distance as a lot of elderly don't understand East Suffolk Nothing at this point in time. Beccles and villages have been well looked after. My community (Southwold) has been overrun with visitors since lockdown started to ease. Also, during lockdown, lots of second home owners came here. The town council East Suffolk could have done more to prevent this. 1. The much hyped TRIBE app does not, and never has not worked. 2. The GoodSam App does not work. 3. Efforts put into the Trace and Trace systems training and East Suffolk experience was not taken up. East Suffolk Better information on vulnerable list from county & district councils ALL dogs to be kept on leads at ALL times. This would have helped my state of mind and Ipswich less stressful when outside. Not knowing whether we should leaflet drop in the area or whether this was being taken care of by Home But Not Alone. We would have got leaflets out earlier in the event of Ipswich another such incident. weekly cross discipline/multi-agency online briefings so that organisations can clearly communicate their specialism, their offer, their capacity and their needs and be aware of the same from others - with action plans or agreements to share resources being more complete and more widely available. The weakness I am pointing out is that there was no Ipswich clear central coordination that was easy to access and to participate in. Not aware of any particular weaknesses and would plan to do a similar exercise again Mid Suffolk next time. The lead coordinator was / is very able, but it may have led to her taking on too much Mid Suffolk responsibility, which could have been better shared among other volunteers. There were lots of individuals and businesses doing fantastic work. I'm not sure if the right hand always knew what the left was doing. Maybe a more coordinated approach if Mid Suffolk possible without layering bureaucracy and stunting the enthusiasm of volunteers. we were unable to leaflet people with a contact number. We (the church) had printed a "Parish news", which goes to every house, at a cost of ca. £450, but were too late to deliver, because of lockdown. In the future, we'll publish a "crisis" number to ring, and Mid Suffolk pass on any requests that are beyond the scope of the church to relevant organisations. 1) Regular meetings to discuss who was doing what; 2) perhaps we could have tried harder to get more formal approval/backing from e.g. the supermarkets and the council. We really struggled at the start as we were only able to buy e.g. 2 pints of milk at a time, Mid Suffolk but we were all shopping for 3-4 households (or more). Mid Suffolk Not sure of any weakness, or of how to cope better. Information flow - we found out that one person needed help via a very round about route - we had contacted everyone in the village twice - to see if anyone needed help but one person was clearly embarrassed and sought help elsewhere – we only found out when I was contacted personally by someone I knew who became aware that this person needed help. So in any future event we need to physically talk with every member of the Mid Suffolk community or have a trusted person speak with them to check that they really are ok.

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this District again? Mid Suffolk It would have been helpful if we could add people to the government food boxes. We would be prepared if there was a second spike and we would continue with the Mid Suffolk arrangements we have in place. Mid Suffolk no suggestions We were great in getting up and running with the community group. However, with hindsight there could have been issues with vetting volunteers and the lack of appropriate Mid Suffolk policies. Getting volunteers to answer their phones in the early stages when we were trying to buddy up the vulnerables’. We discussed this as a group and felt there wasn't an awful lot we could do about that problem. Leaving messages and waiting for a return call wasn't Mid Suffolk helpful, in fact it was a hindrance Aging Population – KP discussed how due to Woolpit being an aging population, technology has been a huge barrier in this pandemic as a lot of information about support is online. Volunteer Roles – Woolpit have had issues with pairing up (and the delay in timing) the volunteers with the vulnerable, as the volunteers did not realise exactly what Mid Suffolk their ‘roles’ would be. Mid Suffolk Nothing really - felt we coped well and didn't need much more We needed a greater understanding of what was available but in this situation it was an Mid Suffolk ongoing development so it would have been hard to change much We had a lack of trained and CBS checked volunteers that we were able to manage officially as a Parish Council and a lack of best practice procedures in place that made it difficult for us to act as a central body for coordinating efforts. We are going to look into setting up a Good Neighbour Scheme going forward so the Parish Council can play a Mid Suffolk bigger role if there is a similar situation in the future. I think ours worked well, but we could perhaps have been more proactive in contacting West Suffolk the vulnerable I would have liked to see more collaboration between local GNS. There were two main groups responding to the situation and some duplication of efforts was inevitable. West Suffolk Collecting payments was a big challenge. Issue face masks to all hygiene leaflets though all doors keeping refuse sites open so West Suffolk people could do more gardening Phone trees rather than relying on people to call people. Avoids falling through the West Suffolk cracks. Better lines of communication and information sharing - we are still not sure how many people locally we need to be aware of who are getting help from other sources which West Suffolk could change as the situation continues to develop. More streamlined approach - would have been easier if we had had an Emergencies Officer in place - a more streamlined approach would have meant we could have acted a West Suffolk few days earlier West Suffolk Not sure we would do anything differently More support from the council or other businesses. I found myself working 10+ hours 7 West Suffolk days a week to allocate tasks

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this District again? Not having the backing of the Parish Council (not the clerk - he was fabulous) was a problem because there was another resident organiser who was really lovely but accidentally worried some of the older folk because they thought the flyer he put through doors could have been a scam as no-one in the village really knew him that well. We had to do a quick door knock and message to let older people know it wasn't a scam and they could call the number on the card and someone would help them. It was really kind of him to start the ball rolling but we would probably have added some more information to the flyer before it was put through people's doors. If we had to do it again I wouldn't have wasted time with the PC I'd have just sorted what we need to sort, but it would have been nice to have had their support as it would have helped reassure older residents that the things they could access were legitimate. Also, had it been a PC 'structured' response then we could have made sure that there were safeguarding and GDPR measures in place before people were off shopping for older people. As it was, in the early days I had no idea who was doing what for whom. We should have had an action plan - but that's my fault because I was waiting for the previous one to be handed over by the last Parish Clerk and he couldn't find it. Luckily we have a new Clerk now and he is excellent and has been really supportive - as well as being part of the group of volunteers (which includes some other parish councillors as well) who have been shopping for shielding residents. I don't think I'd involve the PC now as the information we needed was supplied by District/Borough so we know what needs to be done and we can move quickly if we need to. There probably needs to be a playbook that's maintained by the West Suffolk PC in case all the volunteers disperse but that's all. Identify who does not have access to online resources and support. Identify who is West Suffolk vulnerable and/or at risk of domestic violence and keep in touch. There have not been any weaknesses that we are aware of. Any problems/difficulties West Suffolk that have arisen have been dealt with at the time. Some initial mis-communication resulted in villagers having unrealistic expectations of the group's function. The setting up of some of the WhatsApp groups became intertwined West Suffolk and needed to be streamlined into working groups with specific goals. One person contacting multiple organisation for help – better to be centralised so that this is picked up before duplication. Difficult to know when people need help or not – some West Suffolk misused the system asking for shopping despite going out themselves Funding, if there was more accessible funding available i believe we would be able to do West Suffolk things on a greater scale. Pharmacies –DH discussed how the pharmacies did not see themselves as a wider network, and the volunteers had to explain their roles multiple times to get the prescribed West Suffolk medication collected for the vulnerable. Knowledge of who were particularly vulnerable in the village at an early stage would have helped. Get the names of vulnerable people to the coordinator of volunteers as quickly as West Suffolk possible West Suffolk Put someone more organised than myself in charge maybe!

Aging Population –JS discussed how due to Risby being an aging population, technology West Suffolk has been a huge barrier in this pandemic as a lot of information about support is online. To be honest my system worked very well in our village. There is a young Mum who set up a new village Facebook page which was invaluable. The only thing I could suggest is that a poster could have been put up on our village parish council notice board, but our West Suffolk parish clerk was self isolating. This poster could have reinforced all information.

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 in your local community? What would you do differently if you had to do this District again? We are a small community and I cannot think how we could have done things better West Suffolk although I am sure we could ! West Suffolk If allowed (by government) open up markets to anyone that wanted to, not just essential GDPR problems – surgery not sharing information with us. If vulnerable people do not West Suffolk come forward, then we do not know about them. I think we could have had a locally based track and trace system in place which would have been more effectively organised at a local level rather than wait for the national scheme and App that did not work. Volunteers could have been mobilised and trained to undertake this work under the supervision of locally based professionals. I know many West Suffolk retired professionals who probably would have been happy to assist with this task. West Suffolk Maybe keep village notice boards updated with a weekly bulletin The volunteer scheme has worked really well and the Council hopes to support its continuation post lockdown-no change required. A daily steering group involving a small number of key players worked well - enabling an agile response to problems as they West Suffolk emerged and links into WS officers. West Suffolk What was done? West Suffolk People are just so rude! Parking and accessibility - are above More practical information for those shielding e.g. where to buy masks and antibac when advice changed ; shielding access to shops; West Suffolk support for key workers etc

4. WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- 19 at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level?

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- District 19 at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level? Increased district communication, a recognition at district level of the organisations already operating and support to tie these in with the new and developing community All districts groups. Information wasn't being translated for those who do not speak English straight away an their community groups. In the beginning, collaboration between those on the board and local VCS was weak. It was too much of a top down approach - where groups etc were not getting the support or autonomy that they needed. Collaboration across organisations locally was less well coordinated than at strategic level. Information not shared collaboratively and fed into the main information collation exercise. Missed opportunities - data was collated swiftly, but not so much happened with it to use the information effectively such as for the food banks and getting them supported. How little some had a little understanding of community and how the small bodies work. Wasn't clear for what the purpose of the information collation was for. A lot of knee jerk reaction at the start. Sometimes a failure to gather real information. The Tribe App - was slow to All districts get started, although much data was behind it. Tribe and Good Sam App – SL said how if these apps had a ‘top down’ approach it would All districts have worked better. All districts immediate access to funding All districts Links Babergh In force the wearing of face masks/coverings sooner

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- District 19 at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level? We had to create our own suitable governance document which should have been in place to draw down from. Insurance and DBS checks should have been available free and Babergh done for us. Information and grants were VERY late Babergh Little to suggest Have plans in place to activate in the case of a pandemic etc . Too much red tape is Babergh generally the cause. Babergh Information overload with emails Bit of an overload of info - is the same info coming from too many orgs. Particularly didn’t need the distinction between SCC and DC branding - doesn’t matter to us which org does what as long as you can tell and redirect. Would have been useful for a combined single Babergh brand message to reduce email overload Localised statistics I attempted to use the CCB 'TRIBE' WhatsApp but I found this was unhelpful. I did not pursue it and formally 'sign-up' to it because of our own CEP WhatsApp group and the perception that TRIBE was more relevant for other and potentially more rural and isolated Babergh (and vulnerable) residents/communities. There send to be a bed to find innovative ways to capture and support the community effort to see what can be sustained for people who are isolated /need practical sorry in the Babergh future Getting The Home But Not Alone number out quicker. You had lots of local groups popping up to respond, with their own contact numbers and then you wanted everything to go through a central portal. It was messy in the early stages and also meant groups popped up with volunteers who had no references, DBS checks or appropriate safeguards in place. We have been particularly disappointed that Home but not Alone directed most enquiries in Ipswich to Ipswich Community Support Group rather than smaller local groups. We felt it was more appropriate for very local volunteers to respond to local need. The Tribe app was woeful- it just doesn't work in the way it needs to for it to be effective. It was brought on board too late, doesn't allow for organisations to register on it, and you East Suffolk need a smartphone to use it- no good for the elderly etc. Local contact tracing teams Using powers to prevent visitors from other parts of the East Suffolk country from importing Covid-19 into Suffolk. Unfortunately these levels have always been at least a week behind where we are at and Tribe number still not efficient. Had 1 person use it and took 3 days to filter through to us East Suffolk on the ground. We respond within the hour when we get a direct call to our 0300 number. East Suffolk No visibility East Suffolk See above Hub running from few days prior to suspected lockdown. Clear process with criteria given for all eventualities/referrals. Co located teams with relevant staff who has the right information e.g., social care, benefits/hardship/council tax housing, mental health. Town Council Government shielding difficult contact. Different departments/agencies referring people who wouldn't meet criteria for free food. Then having to disappoint or upset people East Suffolk who expected it. This was a major incident. In the initial stages of all such events there is a degree of chaos which over time is contained and managed. Key to the response are effective processes and structures. As a local responder I expected a clear set of objectives and mission lead from District/County. In effect, however, we were left to just get on with things alone, which is a very high risk approach. I would have expected early contact from the Suffolk Resilience Forum and a clear direction set for our local work together with a clear plan of how it fitted into the County response. There are clearly laid out major East Suffolk incident procedures around direction, control, coordination and communication that I

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- District 19 at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level? would have expected to be put in place. This incident required a command and control response - this was lacking. The inability of higher level organisations to collaborate with local Councils in a proactive way. The setting up of district wide shielding support was too slow and mirrored better East Suffolk local initiatives, and was less able to provide quality support - e.g. appalling food parcels. Communication was mostly through ESC and they could have used community groups East Suffolk more effectively. Also we had to fight for testing in Lowestoft. East Suffolk Bit slow to get going. East Suffolk Similar response but, generally, the district and county support has been fine. Tribe did not work – officers telling us to sign up but no benefit to us. Difficult to cope with East Suffolk the huge number of volunteers (150) and their expectations. HVC had already bought together a group of organisations etc to plan our Covid response in mid-March so we were ready to go with info ready for print etc. There was some anxiety expressed by senior officers that we would dilute the Home not Alone message if we got leaflets out. We went ahead any way which was absolutely the right thing to do and so we were already providing a very high level of service by the time Home not alone was launched.. So the key learning should be that regionally or county-wide co-ordination isn't always helpful - particularly for organisations who are working well at a local level. Things like the Tribe Ap were pretty useless - on a very exhausted Sunday evening, I spent nearly 2 hours trying to register my organisation, only to find the next day that the App couldn't do it. BACT wasted a huge amount of time and goodwill when asked by the NHS to provide a medication collection service as there was a deliver problem, we were also approached - by that point we were delivering over 70 prescriptions a week so we didn't need a bureaucratic solution to a problem that wasn't a problem in our area. Needless to say the medical collection service never happened. Initially, there seemed to be a county-wide assumption that internet was the best way to communicate, that an App was the answer etc...in an area of digital deprivation and an elderly population, this was East Suffolk misguided. East Suffolk I was satisfied with the responses I got. More clarity about dealing with the really hard and ugly issues right at the beginning - excess fatalities, funeral planning, bereavement assistance, family unrest/inability to cope, deep cleaning of infected properties and better planning about testing, but I believe many of these issues need to be sorted at the national level with clear guidance on who is responsible at the local regional level - there has been quite a lot of confusion and occasional buck-passing which has been quite soul destroying and time-wasting at a time East Suffolk such as we have experienced! East Suffolk None I believe. East Suffolk Can't think of anything but we are a small community. A simplified update on a regular basis. Maybe contact on a more informal level with a East Suffolk named parish Cllr to cascade information. East Suffolk More streamlined communication. The response from local government was noticeably very slow, giving us no real contact point to seek advice etc. The 'Home But Not Alone' helpline, seemed to take far too long to set up, leaving the community no other contact point other than ours, and other East Suffolk voluntary groups in the area. TRIBE. looks like a monumental waste of money from the perspective of local volunteer East Suffolk organisations Tribe app and NHS Sam never worked for us. Centralisation of support for shielded patients caused lots of problems, Delivering food parcels to people who did not want East Suffolk them and not delivering them to people that did. Impersonal deliveries was a lost

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- District 19 at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level? opportunity to involve volunteers and maintain human contact to vulnerable people. Centralisation, secrecy and bureaucracy. Centralised approach, top heavy approach. The Tribe app was useless. Should have East Suffolk trusted volunteers more. East Suffolk Perhaps joining communities together so that support went to where it was needed Maybe this better answered via our Parish Council, Wickham Market Partnership, East Suffolk Wickham Market Care Project ,churches together and ESDC I have felt connected by social media, without the know how to assess modern technology East Suffolk not sure how that would have worked! East Suffolk Again, not really aware of it working in our community so apologies if it did. From the word go Framlingham felt it was on its own. We heard nothing from County or East Suffolk District for weeks, and when we did, we had already implemented the suggestions. Information was very much internet based, whereas many in the over 70, and younger, bracket have no internet and rely upon people to tell them things i.e. a phone call, East Suffolk neighbours, family, friends, etc. East Suffolk County and borough needed to coordinate better with excellent local initiatives Although I completely understand the reason for reducing some of the bin collections, and the recycling clothes banks etc, along with charity shops not being able to accept donations, I think these factors contributed to an increase in fly tipping. The parking attendants issuing tickets during the lockdown, when the town was virtually empty, and people were only making necessary journeys. This just angered people and added fuel to those already critical and negative about the communities response and actions. It seemed somewhat insensitive and unnecessary at a time when people were already East Suffolk really stressed. East Suffolk Only really had contact from David Beavan Please see above. Working more closely with Public Health, not all vulnerable shielding people received a letter which enabled them to have a chance to receive online shopping, East Suffolk this needs to be properly organised. East Suffolk pre planning for future not closing roads (See above). I think that the district Council and Suffolk county council should have supported seaside communities people by introducing measures to prevent people who East Suffolk don’t live here from coming here The lack of use of volunteers offer of help (see 3. above) has led to a situation where East Suffolk there will, undoubtedly, be a reduced response in the future. Too slow too remote not enough recognition or understanding of the power of local East Suffolk communities Ipswich In force the wearing of face masks/coverings sooner Getting The Home But Not Alone number out quicker. You had lots of local groups popping up to respond, with their own contact numbers and then you wanted everything to go through a central portal. It was messy in the early stages and also meant groups popped up with volunteers who had no references, DBS checks or appropriate safeguards in place. We have been particularly disappointed that Home but not Alone directed most enquiries in Ipswich to Ipswich Community Support Group rather than smaller local groups. We felt it was more appropriate for very local volunteers to respond to local need. The Tribe app was woeful- it just doesn't work in the way it needs to for it to be effective. It was brought on board too late, doesn't allow for organisations to register on it, and you Ipswich need a smartphone to use it- no good for the elderly etc.

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- District 19 at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level? see my answer to q3 - we need an open, easy access forum to enable each organisation to offer and declare their needs - gaps in services, community requirements etc - we had volunteers at full stretch and we knew other organisations had volunteers who were not being used - the joining up took several weeks to understand and implement and this Ipswich could have been done in the first weeks of the crisis. Some of the paper forms filled in by residents needing help and passed to the Council were not always clear (i.e. details were confusing) so sometimes it was guesswork as to Mid Suffolk what help they needed or currently had access to. We were mostly happy with this. We found some of the Home but not Alone volunteers referred to the wrong community group at times, but this is completely understandable in Mid Suffolk the circumstances. I don't think there was much coordination until about week 2 from CCB. I dutifully forwarded all correspondence to my Councillors and sometime received criticism that there was a lot of repetition of information readily available. Bite size, highlights might Mid Suffolk have been better. We had a lot of enquiries about food boxes (those who did, and didn't want them), but we received no communication about how this was being undertaken. In the end, we distributed unwanted boxes to those who wanted them, since we had no idea of what else Mid Suffolk to do with them. Individually, our contact (Aruna) was fantastic, calling us regularly and offering ideas and advice. Institutionally, it would have been good to have much more support earlier - it felt like perhaps the focus was on the app, but that wasn't ready for weeks - what we needed was paperwork straightway to say we were shopping for other people as volunteers, and maybe a badge or something supermarkets could recognise, plus liaison with the Mid Suffolk supermarkets. Mid Suffolk Our village hall was unaware until late on of their eligibility for business support Tribe Volunteer - the app was useless - it did not meet our needs at all and we could not understand why it was being pushed.... Most of our people in need do not have computers or smartphones.... Hopefully the app was given to Suffolk for free 'cos asking for payment would have been a cheek... It was unclear who - if anyone - was leading locally - eventually I just signed up to the covid.gov daily news dump/email and waded through all the stuff the government put out. It was easier than trying to find out via other means. "Best practice" wasn't being identified and shared in any coherent way - so we were all re-inventing our own individual wheels... which is a waste of time, energy and effort. We had a number of local businesses ask us for help/information regarding getting grants and loans etc - it all seemed a bit haphazard.. and getting information and Mid Suffolk finding a form for them to fill in was a nightmare. see above, some people got the boxes that did not want them and others could not get Mid Suffolk them Mid Suffolk Our arrangements for Stowupland seems to have worked well. Mid Suffolk no suggestions Sometimes perhaps too much communication from different sources and sometimes Mid Suffolk repetitive. They should have been more proactive earlier. The horse had bolted by the time they got Mid Suffolk their act together Gov Food Parcels – KP said how there have been a few issues with Government food parcels for shielding individuals that have not turned up and people who are only now Mid Suffolk getting registered for these. NR said how this has been an issue for a lot of Districts. Mid Suffolk It was fine

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- District 19 at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level? It took a few weeks to get working smoothly and we seemed to have info from all sorts of Mid Suffolk people/places before it became properly centralised. But it has been good The duplication of information and updates from many different bodies and organisations Mid Suffolk made it difficult to review all and got confusing West Suffolk None that I am aware of Having the support of local Council would have been MASSIVE. We had to create our own phone line (council already has phones etc), emails and continued to struggle with volunteers. It would have been nice to see staff get more involved. Ability to take payments over the phone would have helped. On a Country level - FASTER response. By the time you reached out to us, we have already set up groups, processes and were literally 'in the battle field'. Earlier information, best practices would have probably West Suffolk benefited a lot of groups. West Suffolk More information earlier when we were trying g to set up West Suffolk as above Quicker response - the local group was setup some weeks before support was organised West Suffolk more broadly. West Suffolk Think I am happy with this - help was available, people were available to signpost you. There was a lot of email communication at the beginning from lots of agencies but it did West Suffolk get clearer More support for the volunteers. We had to find out own gloves and masks and the admin West Suffolk volunteers gave up their entire days monitoring the system, making calls etc. Needed that resource pack sooner than we got it but that's in NO WAY a criticism - the fact it came out so quickly was brilliant but it might be worth you always having something West Suffolk kept up to date so it can be downloaded and used. Central co-ordination team/telephone number from day one (leaflets sent out with children West Suffolk before the schools closed etc) Too many emails, mostly all reporting the same thing give a feeling of being overwhelmed with the same information by four or five different organisation. Perhaps these organisation should come together to facilitate one response to ease the amount of West Suffolk emails. Again with more funding we would have been able to do a lot more/have these things in West Suffolk place for the future. Gov Food Parcels –DH said how there have been a few issues with Government food parcels for shielding individuals that have not turned up and people who are only now getting registered for these. NR said how this has been an issue for a lot of Districts. Tribe and Good Sam App –DH was disappointed in these apps and felt like there was not enough information on what they were providing for both organisations and people they were supporting. HBNA Letter – This was not useful, and DH said how it was confusing West Suffolk for areas that were already had their own response. Early knowledge of which shops and farm shops were open so this could be quickly West Suffolk distributed to local residents. West Suffolk Less swamping with information from many sources I have felt bombarded by updates from lots of different bodies, to the point where I’m not West Suffolk reading them all. Gov Food Parcels – JS also said how she feels like the communication for this was not done as well as it could have been. Tribe and Good Sam App – JS was disappointed in these apps and felt like there was not enough information on what they were providing for West Suffolk both organisations and people they were supporting.

WEAKNESSES - What could have worked better in terms of the response to Covid- District 19 at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level? The leaflet giving out the Home but not Alone number came out far too late and in fact confused some of the community. But having said that two people were signposted to me. I found the liaison person in the council very personable. There was not enough guidance about how to help vulnerable people who were unable to shop for themselves. Most of these do not use internet banking so the question of how they sourced money was a West Suffolk problem. Getting DBS checks Frustration at emergency planning was troublesome. National agencies were slow to respond and behind local responses. Waiting for guidance. Confusing advice on SCC website – told to go to district council for PPE who said they cannot help. Need an emergency plan that covers all kinds of emergency. Conflict between guidance and the reality of the situation. Money coming through from West Suffolk government not enough to resolve the local challenges. Tribe app – did not get any volunteer roles but got a call from a council worker 4 weeks later who was helpful Use of language in newsletters – full of jargon and language we do West Suffolk not understand as not professional’s in the sector Overwhelming amount of emerging guidance; conflicting SCC guidance about volunteers handling cash/DBS checks exacerbated by local shop not accepting remote payment/cheque. We worked through the problem and caught up with DBS checks etc but there was a worrying period when trusted networks of volunteers were handling cash before DBS checks in place; Access to the Co-op management structure to discuss the needs of vulnerable residents much earlier would have been helpful. Their refusal to accept remote payment caused difficulties for residents running out of cash. Difficult for shielding residents to access cash in lockdown - no solution/ hardship fund readily available. No useful advice on or access to appropriate PPE for volunteers/staff during height of lockdown It was difficult to get community buy-in to town re-opening plans - which were brought forward so quickly in line with (the very late) emerging government guidance by SCC/WSC; the speed at which plans were made and implemented was the real problem in a situation of various conflicting interests -some residents and businesses felt their needs were being overruled. Sometimes the solution from this level has arrived West Suffolk too late - we have already implemented something different West Suffolk What was done? 14/15 weeks after the start of lockdown and we finally get some signs up around town West Suffolk advising social distancing. What a waste of money! A more coherent approach to restarting our local economy. Lack of support for our most West Suffolk Vulnerable residents Lack of local information and support to those who are Shielding

5. OPPORTUNITIES - What aspects of the Covid-19 response in your local community should be retained as we move into ‘recovery’?

OPPORTUNITIES - What aspects of the Covid-19 response in your local community District should be retained as we move into ‘recovery’? The community groups should be retained, with additional training and support, they should also be recognised as a informal offer which does not replace existing All districts organisations who have a structure that allows for work with extremely vulnerable clients Building on and sustaining kindness and neighbourliness of any local community. People All districts wanting to support their neighbours. All districts adaptability All districts Neighbourhood help Online Support Respite courses Babergh In force face coverings in all inside and built up areas. We will continue to run our food bank and will be setting up a Community Relief Fund for Babergh future hardship funding of local residents We could add prescription delivery to our portfolio of our activities, but only to those in genuine need (i.e. registered with us as elderly, disabled, unable to access public Babergh transport). Babergh I plan to keep Hadleigh Cares in place in some form ticking in the background. Babergh THE COMMUNITY SPIRIT Babergh Ensuring all volunteers are still available going forward. Some of the people living on their own may need this help long term. This has highlighted Babergh them and we will continue to keep an eye on them and help them when needed. Information More locally led area-specific leadership as we face localised flare ups of Babergh Covid 19 The current eight volunteers and our regional emergency network will remain in place and be available in the future - for the likely second peak of the pandemic as well as any Babergh further village-wide emergencies. Babergh Keeping everyone informed by whatever means possible Community communication, joined up working & community care for each other needs to Babergh stay. The way people locally can step in with informal routes to accountability was refreshing. We need to work out how we can avoid trying to create a traditional managed volunteer approach to replace it. This is too costly and bureaucratic and has more to do with Babergh protecting organisations rather than the clients. Babergh I think some sort of ongoing help for isolated and elderly Encouraging people to be good neighbours with people checking on vulnerable people, East Suffolk relieving loneliness and working together as a community or neighbourhood. East Suffolk Telephone support line for parishioners Our spreadsheet of vulnerable people needs maintaining as does our sheet of volunteers and we do spot check those identified as vulnerable with surprise food parcels and a chat East Suffolk to make sure they are ok. Advertising the availability of sources of help, encouraging people to ask for help, offering East Suffolk more prayer / listening ear / care & support. More support for local outlets rather than large supermarkets. Better contact between East Suffolk neighbours who have got to know each other often on local exercise walks. Befriending scheme but kept locally - Coordinator? Support for hard/stuck cases. May not meet social care threshold, but identified a need from covid response. Officers who has the knowledge on all aspects of response. Documented process that worked so it can be East Suffolk used again.

OPPORTUNITIES - What aspects of the Covid-19 response in your local community District should be retained as we move into ‘recovery’? The whole response structure needs to be retained in a semi-dormant state so that we are prepared for a second outbreak. All open source information points to the risks of a East Suffolk second wave of infection either nationally or locally. The ability to resurrect the response team to support people when a second wave arrives. Continuing to develop local support initiatives for those still adversely affected by the lockdown - specifically economic deprivation resulting from job losses and business East Suffolk closures Setting up a GNS Youth of village have been great and interested in starting up a youth East Suffolk council East Suffolk Encouraging cycling by improving road provision and encouraging local shopping. East Suffolk We will maintain the list of supporters Community support - shopping, prescription collection, dog walking &c but we are happy this can continue on an ad hoc basis with broad oversight from the parish council as the East Suffolk village is too small to justify the bureaucracy of a good neighbour scheme East Suffolk People need time to grieve for loss in their community The way that local groups, church, parish and town councils and voluntary organisations have worked together must continue. The new volunteers who have joined us need to be nurtured and encouraged to keep volunteering The pandemic has shown very East Suffolk independent people that they can access help and support without feeling disempowered East Suffolk Community Spirit and the volunteer army Please email me at [email protected] (as below) or call me on 07768 393 646 - we have a plan on how we intend to sustain, evolve and maintain IP17GNS for the longer- East Suffolk term now we have succeeded and learnt so much in such a short time! East Suffolk As a Parish Council we will always be here for help for all vulnerable people East Suffolk Maintain and expand the parish email list to maintain contact when required. Hidden Needs – SC discussed how as she mainly works with older people, Covid-19 has East Suffolk enabled her to find more people that require support with hidden needs. East Suffolk The local community has been very supportive, an aspect to build on volunteers still vital - I shall be continuing to do prescription runs and getting several East Suffolk people's shopping for quote some time yet. We will continue to offer all our existing services, and as lockdown eases we hope to East Suffolk increase our offering. As long as we feel that it is practical, we hope to continue to offer the same assistance East Suffolk into recovery until all restrictions on isolating / shielding are lifted. East Suffolk The Spirit of cooperation The 400 volunteers and new sense of neighbourhood could be lost because we are not used. Lost opportunity to build a social care network. Why not link the surgery direct with East Suffolk our trained volunteers for a local efficient and humane track and trace service. East Suffolk Keeping a network of volunteers engaged Better use of community Facebook pages, possibly training of digital communications East Suffolk especially for older volunteers. East Suffolk To formalise the current set up into a Good Neighbour Scheme East Suffolk The network East Suffolk The network of volunteers Support from the group for people who still need information, advice and support, plus East Suffolk may have difficulties going out, as have become so used to being at home. East Suffolk Pedestrianisation of town centre. East Suffolk All in q 1 above

OPPORTUNITIES - What aspects of the Covid-19 response in your local community District should be retained as we move into ‘recovery’? Maintain the volunteer service to support those identified as most vulnerable within the community. Perhaps those who could be considered vulnerable, not just for medical reasons, could be identified and asked if they wish to receive support from community East Suffolk volunteers. Capturing the essence of the people who volunteered. Sadly I think volunteers did not get a chance to do enough to help and this probably demoralised people who were keen East Suffolk to contribute. They should be offered some recognition just because they volunteered. East Suffolk volunteer drivers, deliverers East Suffolk Hard to say East Suffolk community volunteers helping the vulnerable East Suffolk Working together for the benefit of each other. People looking out for their neighbours. The town has been quieter which has made it much more pleasant and much more accessible for local people . Southwold is usually East Suffolk over run with tourists and this is often a problem for local people. East Suffolk The lack of engagement of local volunteers has 'soured' the of support from volunteers. East Suffolk Ongoing neighbourliness and connections Ipswich In force face coverings in all inside and built up areas. Encouraging people to be good neighbours with people checking on vulnerable people, Ipswich relieving loneliness and working together as a community or neighbourhood. The clear and obvious value that volunteers bring to all public services. Mutual aid/neighbourhood groups. The shift to efficient online based communications and Ipswich activities where this is appropriate People probably preferred to have someone local in the community helping them rather Mid Suffolk than ‘a body’ or ‘an organisation’ at the end of a telephone. Mid Suffolk We would like to maintain village relationships and care of our more vulnerable residents. Volunteering - but how sustainable is this. Raised Town Council profile might offer future candidates for Councillor positions. The ability to use remote meetings would be useful Mid Suffolk going forward. We retain the data about those involved in volunteering, and those in receipt of help. In many cases, people fall into both categories. They can help by phoning those in need, Mid Suffolk and they can get help such as having prescriptions collected. Possibly - some parts of the volunteer group could keep going? We uncovered a lot of hidden need in terms of very isolated older people. Those issues won't go away even if the COVID19 situation improves. But not sure if we have the time/capacity to grow the group into something more - we're also struggling to juggle family roles, home-schooling Mid Suffolk and our own jobs. Pub could alter direction of its business slightly, to remain a supplier of essentials Local Medical Centre was excellent in texting etc to patients re symptoms, what to do, opening Mid Suffolk times etc. Mid Suffolk not very relevant - we were a group before this and we will continue to exist Good neighbours helping those who have a need. Ongoing conversations with mid Mid Suffolk Suffolk council Communicating with people in the parishes Mid Suffolk Good neighbour scheme will continue to operate as we move into the recovery area. Networking to assist the vulnerable and collaboration with other agencies so we don't all Mid Suffolk work in a vacuum. The community spirit was great with both volunteers and the vulnerables’. This needs to Mid Suffolk be maintained somehow.

OPPORTUNITIES - What aspects of the Covid-19 response in your local community District should be retained as we move into ‘recovery’? Mid Suffolk We are looking at setting up a Good Neighbours Scheme through the Parish Council Emergency Planning Seminar – Woolpit’s Emergency Planning group’s volunteers was Mid Suffolk enthusiastic at the beginning but is now finding it hard. I think the support for people will just carry on naturally as lots of people have got to know Mid Suffolk others better than they did. Mid Suffolk Keep the community together Mid Suffolk See point 3 West Suffolk The befriending and shopping for the vulnerable There's a large elderly population in Brandon and having a support scheme for the elderly they can call with ad hock tasks would probably be of huge value. We found that 'just know there's someone they can call' meant people could go about their lives with much West Suffolk more calm and confidence. West Suffolk Keeping contact with those in the community Community support help lines for trapped at home mothers and elderly people or people West Suffolk with mobility issues It's great to have a central point to call for assistance. Many will continue to shield, more West Suffolk will still be isolated due to health and mobility issues. Telephone support - loneliness, anxiety and fear will still be around. Also, depending on the changes to shielding restrictions, there may be more requirement for volunteers to do West Suffolk shopping, pharmacy visits, etc. We are a fairly tight community anyway and tend to look after each other but if we could get more households to engage with/sign up for our Community Broadcasts we could West Suffolk easily reach more people. West Suffolk People volunteering to help each other West Suffolk Cleanliness, reminders of hand washing and keeping safe. The village WhatsApp group. We should also try to make sure that there's something in the parish magazine/website each month about how to get help for anything if you are an older resident. The buddy scheme where people were checking in on neighbours also West Suffolk worked well and I think now we know how people are connected that's likely to stay. West Suffolk Online support. West Suffolk Togetherness and knowing that there are people out there who are ready to help. As we move into a different phase of the crisis new challenges will emerge which will need identifying. The three co-ordinators will continue to identify and offer . support as needed. Maintain newly developed relationships that have been built in the village during the crisis and build on them...encourage some of the isolated that have been identified to become West Suffolk more involved in village life e.g. coffee mornings/ Rural Coffee caravan visits. Red Lodge could start a food bank/pantry Delivered Easter eggs – brought joy to people West Suffolk we can build on this Matilda rose action squad and home but not alone have both been vital services and its not only my opinion but that of the community that these need to stay as they are helping West Suffolk hundreds of people and have highlighted a need for this kind of service. West Suffolk Everything as detailed in I Zoom – DH said how it would be useful for local groups to regularly meet via Zoom to share their practice with what is working well and not. Spreadsheet Referral Data – DH and others spoke about how they have had a spreadsheet with all their referrals on which is useful. The group discussed whether this is compliant with GDPR and to check with your local Council to make sure they are happy to keep the data, as it will be particularly West Suffolk useful if there is a second wave of Covid-19.

OPPORTUNITIES - What aspects of the Covid-19 response in your local community District should be retained as we move into ‘recovery’? Maintain the volunteer group and its coordinator for future reference. Appoint an West Suffolk emergency officer for every Parish Council. West Suffolk none Supportive relationships as mentioned above. Particularly noticeable that whereas previously elderly residents or families tended to look after each other, where now lots of younger people have come forward. Hopefully this will spill over into other aspects such as running the village hall and church, parish council etc which again has been mainly left West Suffolk to the elderly. Social Media – JS discussed how their information for Risby mainly went up on their Facebook page (with information that was provided from the Parish Clerk). JS said how it would be useful next time if the information was distributed amongst their Parish Notice West Suffolk Boards for people who do not have social media. West Suffolk Definitely our Village Facebook page, that will be very useful in the future. Greater knowledge of each other in the community. Greater use of village Facebook West Suffolk pages to keep in touch, West Suffolk Collective Pages and Linking Local Business West Suffolk Social distancing at any level. West Suffolk Can't really comment on this. West Suffolk Awareness of vulnerable households and willingness to help The Community response team it is hoped will form a continuing good neighbour . Close West Suffolk collaboration between various Town stakeholders has been particularly positive West Suffolk What was done? West Suffolk Being kind to others West Suffolk Improvement

6. OPPORTUNITIES - What bits of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level should be retained as we move into ‘recovery’?

OPPORTUNITIES - What bits of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level should be retained as we District move into ‘recovery’? Local Support Plan and Package –TS said how it would have helped if SCC launched a ‘local plan’ for support that includes different types of services (and what they provide) throughout the County. Linking Volunteers – TS said how it would be useful to know where to direct their volunteers if they have been enjoying volunteering so they can All districts continue post Covid-19 as there is a lack of information regarding this. The increased work with a number of the larger, countywide third sector organisations who have been essential in providing a swift response to the needs of the community and have engaged throughout this process with the response despite any capacity and funding issues they may have. Suffolk Mind, Suffolk Family carers, Home-Start Suffolk, SPCN, Survivors in Transitions, 4YP have been present to partner and work with statutory partners throughout this process and have supported a number of campaigns and All districts initiatives Keeping a single point of access - with the phone line for example. Making use of the Collaborative Communities mapping undertaken - looking at those small groups and seeing what opportunities to develop e.g. it could really help us develop our Community Circles work. Mental health / well-being campaign - that it is okay to talk about how we are feeling, that a person is having a good day or a bad day etc. Continuing to give staff time and space across organisations about their well-being and to talk to each other in our workplaces. To continue cooperation and coordination across Departments which has developed as a COVID response but has much to offer going forwards. Use our resources more effectively as a council as a whole and the CCB. Developing a Communities Assessment process that is similar to the Equality Impact Assessment. The potential, strengths and flexibility for homeworking should be continued as well as online meetings. This reduces travel time and has a positive impact on the environment. Keeping the culture that if you wish to dial into a meeting, then you can. Bringing people together online safely, as the risk of COVID is still out there. From the CCB community mapping, develop a local community infrastructure and a Community Information Strategy. To All districts develop the hyper local mapping. All districts communication to all agencies and organisations to ensure that we can signpost All districts Online support Respite courses Communication and collaboration with grass root organisations like ourselves in order to Babergh train, monitor and support as any threats arise Babergh Little to suggest Babergh Don’t know we did not really utilise these Babergh FOR IT TO BE AVAILABLE OF AND WHEN REQUIRED Ensuring all help options continue to be available as people start to get back to a normal Babergh way of life. Babergh Info bulletins Can we find a partnership approach in which NGOs support local informal groups (e.g. Babergh with advice, opportunities to refer clients who need more formal support) It does make sense to have a central point of contact where vulnerable people can access help long term so Home But Not Alone is a good thing to continue but only if the team running it are aware of all the service that they could refer onto and how those services East Suffolk are run e.g. that they meet safeguarding guidelines, have insurance etc

OPPORTUNITIES - What bits of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level should be retained as we District move into ‘recovery’? East Suffolk Home but not alone East Suffolk Keep sending us referrals from those in need East Suffolk No visibility East Suffolk ? East Suffolk Assume all responses would feed into this. As 5 - be prepared for a second wave of infection and tighten the processes for local East Suffolk coordination. The need to ramp up support for people still adversely affected by the lockdown - specifically economic deprivation resulting from job losses and business closures. To support new local initiatives addressing needs in their community, financially and with East Suffolk advice. East Suffolk it was all good Leave this to the local community forum network and continue to fund that (if resources East Suffolk permit) East Suffolk Working together building relationship with district council I felt that there was a shift within the District and County when they decided just to let us get on with it - that was incredibly helpful. So, it would be good to include local grassroots organisations in the planning and thinking about future responses rather than relying on umbrella bodies as the 'voice of the sector' - even though we have a very good one. One of the many tragedies of the government response to the Pandemic was that they didn't use local government to provide local solutions. From Testing to the Food boxes, national solutions were poorly executed or poorly targeted. I think it is admirable that Suffolk and East Suffolk had some much confidence in their local voluntary sector in Bungay and Halesworth. I feel there has been a real sense of working together and that is incredibly East Suffolk healthy. East Suffolk Communication General advice and support - a helpdesk service for community leaders? A conference of community leaders led by yourselves (when possible, naturally,. re EAPs etc) to share best and worst practice - what worked and did not etc? Less or more targeted/interpreted communication - I get over 20 emails a day about all aspects of Covid-19 and it's impossible to read it all and react best (plus I still work and am only a volunteer as well as being a parish councillor and head of our community energy scheme). It's been tough East Suffolk coping, to be frank, at times East Suffolk In my experience the District and County have done everything they can where possible. East Suffolk Not sure as, luckily, I am not aware of any significant response required. East Suffolk Those that actively support local groups I feel that the 'Home But Not Alone' service should remain in place until all restrictions on East Suffolk isolating/shielding are lifted. East Suffolk maintain the leaders forum and establish closer contacts between groups East Suffolk Only the decentralised bits. ESC down. Working with Norfolk County Council as some of their staff live in Lowestoft and they East Suffolk could have volunteered for East Suffolk council as closer to them than Norfolk CC keeping a register of local groups and being ready to act in the face of any emergency East Suffolk related to pandemic or climate change Increased use of Good Neighbour Schemes such as the amazing Wickham market one, which. Last year provided over 1800 tasks from 40 volunteers some now ageing so East Suffolk reduced numbers anticipated.

OPPORTUNITIES - What bits of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level should be retained as we District move into ‘recovery’? Recognize that we have groups and organizations that have procedure and structure and doing fantastic work that should be celebrated and supported. Map out across Suffolk East Suffolk where all the organizations are and give them support – build on their successes East Suffolk Communication and info on FB East Suffolk Again not aware of what it did locally East Suffolk We cannot see anything worth keeping from our perspective East Suffolk Contact details, so that if there is a 2nd wave lockdown, things are in place. East Suffolk I wasn’t aware of any county initiatives As Beccles is now starting to be pedestrianised to help with the response to the lockdown and the shops reopening, I think this would be an amazing opportunity to continue with this plan and pedestrianise the majority of the town. Having benches and tables, flowers etc, will make it such a delightful and welcoming place without the chaos and noise caused by the traffic. Regarding the doctors surgery at Beccles medical centre, some of the way they are operating now, with much more done online and some appointments taking place virtually online, seems a much more effective and efficient way to operate, East Suffolk helping reduce those unnecessary appointments. East Suffolk working together Town, District and County Councillors continuing to work with and help encourage local East Suffolk community to pull together. East Suffolk I haven’t noticed anything East Suffolk see previous answer. East Suffolk Home But Nit Alone number for those in need It does make sense to have a central point of contact where vulnerable people can access help long term so Home But Not Alone is a good thing to continue but only if the team running it are aware of all the service that they could refer onto and how those services Ipswich are run e.g. that they meet safeguarding guidelines, have insurance etc Ipswich Again - not familiar with this structure so not sure what can be retained We believe the liaison between the External Funding Officer at MSDC and the Parish Council should remain in place until we are completely out of the woods, even if it is on a Mid Suffolk much reduced scale. Mid Suffolk The excellent communications. A coordinated approach is welcome so there are not cross boundary differences. Is it possible to extend this collaborative working across the borders. Being located on the Norfolk border Eye residents use services in Norfolk where information and processes Mid Suffolk differ to Suffolk causing confusion. It was effective that the parish council were able to send the church links to collaborate at a wider level. This enabled us to respond to requests from relatives in Taunton, Mid Suffolk Southampton etc. Great to meet Aruna and have a known contact at the council - usually it's rather impersonal info shared via the website, but Aruna has mentioned perhaps coming out to meet groups like ours (when that is possible), which would be brilliant, and could start a Mid Suffolk more ongoing relationships and means to discuss local needs etc. Mid Suffolk Closer contact with community help teams Mid Suffolk Talking to the local church as we often know what is going on in our communities They should ready to continue to liaise with communities as we move into the recovery Mid Suffolk phase. Mid Suffolk Collaboration.

OPPORTUNITIES - What bits of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level should be retained as we District move into ‘recovery’? Acknowledged that staff were redeployed. It is important that business as usual returns and COVID 19 isn't used as an excuse. People want to see the normal return as soon as Mid Suffolk possible. The District/Suffolk need to be more proactive with village Emergency Planning Groups. Perhaps a seminar somewhere in the county annually where groups can meet, speak to council/health workers and discuss their own plans. There is nothing like sharing Mid Suffolk information Local Support Plan and Package – KP said how it would have helped if SCC launched a ‘local plan’ for support that includes different types of services (and what they provide) throughout the County. CAS – KP said how she is signed up on the CAS mailing list but has not really looked at it as she has been busy with focusing on their support group. KP said how it would be helpful if there was an Emergency Planning annual group seminar, Mid Suffolk as this would provide everyone with support. Financial support for those in need. I think you really should support theatres and pubs that are struggling - our pub has really suffered and it is an important part of the Mid Suffolk community. Mid Suffolk See point 3 West Suffolk Communication between the many active groups West Suffolk Depends on how involved they want to be and whether they see value in doing the above. West Suffolk as above West Suffolk Telephone support - with the emphasis on local delivery of services. I have felt that more people were taking responsibility for their 'bits' maybe this could West Suffolk continue by having named people that were contactable West Suffolk Keeping is informed of any changes particularly to legislation Support for many vulnerable people who relied solely on the kindness of volunteers. More West Suffolk support for those volunteers who offered many hours and fuel. Central database of all the community groups - if you made it a login (so we don't have all our personal details out in the wild) then actually the organisers could share resources and contact each other - for example I had to talk to a couple of other groups about some things. Similarly if we had excess of anything or spare capacity we tried to share and pass things on. I passed some info about apps etc to Katrina so if there was a central West Suffolk resource database/forum then it would be really useful. West Suffolk Central telephone support and advice line. Not sure; depends if there is any future outbreaks and whether any lockdown measures West Suffolk will be dealt with at District/County level. West Suffolk On going funding/developing services. Maintain existing services. Matilda rose action squad and home but not alone have both been vital services and its not only my opinion but that of the community that these need to stay as they are helping West Suffolk hundreds of people and have highlighted a need for this kind of service. West Suffolk Communication Keep the people who have responsibilities to currently liaise with local volunteer groups. West Suffolk Give them some training as this will be needed in the future. Threats West Suffolk some information flow Looking at clergy/faith groups as a possible resource for community support rather than just a niche activity. Was very helpful to be allowed to receive/administer a small WSC grant for Covid19 support in the community, which normally would have to go through a West Suffolk non-faith group such as PC or village hall.

OPPORTUNITIES - What bits of the Covid-19 response at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level should be retained as we District move into ‘recovery’? Local Support Plan and Package – KP, JS and TS said how it would have helped if SCC launched a ‘local plan’ for support that includes different types of services (and what they provide) throughout the County. Linking Volunteers – JS said how it would be useful to know where to direct their volunteers if they have been enjoying volunteering so they can West Suffolk continue post Covid-19 as there is a lack of information regarding this. The communication between the layers of the council and the residents in the parish. Maybe our Parish Clerk could post information on the village Facebook page and West Suffolk generally increase awareness of the information available. West Suffolk Communication between parish and district West Suffolk Promoting the local business at market etc. so people know they are there West Suffolk Regular updates if we spike again. West Suffolk Can't really comment on this. West Suffolk Information that came via email very thorough The interest shown in the work by some WS Cllrs and officers has been great - the West Suffolk collaboration and support has been very welcome West Suffolk Nothing appears to have been done Remove the one way system, improve communication and dissemination of vital West Suffolk information for those shielding

7. THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to future Covid-19 outbreaks in your local community?

THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to District future Covid-19 outbreaks in your local community? Communication with a range of people Inclusion of BAME in communication, which suits All districts a range of languages and cultures People assuming / getting confused with the Government messaging that COVID is over, risking a second peak. Balancing the risk of reopening Village Hall and Church hall activities and guidance to reopen, yet the expense of reopening and increased amount of cleaning in between. Volunteer fatigue - current volunteers getting tired. Availability of volunteers - furloughing ending, summer holidays and parenting, over 70 volunteers. Smaller community groups themselves doing too much and then putting communities at risk - e.g. bringing volunteers together for meetings - haven't had the link with local All districts community groups. All districts communication, adaptability All districts Funding Digital upgrades Babergh Crowded areas Uncoordinated information, low financial and personnel resources together with general Babergh apathy from local organisations that should 'step up to the plate' Recovery will be slow as most passengers and volunteer drivers are (by definition) in the 'at risk' category. All prescription deliveries were made for zero customer payment so Babergh some funding will be necessary in future outbreaks. People being silly and interpreting the rules in different ways. Wearing masks gives some the idea that social distancing is not required anymore . Ensuring social distancing can be kept by closing high streets or making them one way. Having to walk in the road whilst moving away from people coming towards you is very hard to dodge cars and lorries !! Groups of teens who think they are not likely to get Covid !! The elderly who have shielded for three months and face a different experience now and don’t social distance or Babergh understand as they have not been subjected to it. WE ARE VERY LUCKY IN SUFFOLK TO HAVE ESCAPED THE WORST. AND WE Babergh HOPE AND PRAY THAT THERE WILL NOT BE ANOTHER OUTBREAK ELSEWHERE. Babergh Volunteers being cautious about resuming duties. Us going back to work full time restricts the amount of time we can give to this. Also, as teachers we are putting ourselves at more risk at work now. However, we are taking every Babergh precaution possible. Distrust of what we are being told from central government. Local government more Babergh trusted to tell the facts with less spin Babergh None identified. Babergh Lack of mobile Post Office, lack of public transport Babergh Main threat to recovery will be rising unemployment and a lack of jobs. As people go back to work, we are losing capacity to respond, and interest may wane if Babergh we don't have a way to retain it Babergh The youngsters meeting outside-footpaths and bridle paths included For some they need to help to get technology or the internet. Many shopping trips done because many people have internet but not confident with internet shopping or don't have internet. This also caused problems with payment, so they don't do telephone or internet East Suffolk banking either. Need to offer support and training in this for older folk. Regarding

THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to District future Covid-19 outbreaks in your local community? recovery I would say anxiety about another outbreak is one area as well as the financial impact on some people which will lead to mental health issues. East Suffolk Invasion of anti-social visitors Lack of local contact tracing service East Suffolk Our volunteers all get infected at once. We would carry on doing what we are doing if there is a further outbreak. No specific threats to recovery from our community that I can see as churches are not yet able to East Suffolk resume worship or host weddings, funerals etc. Not sure. I think some people have bent the rules to meet family a bit ahead of time following the example of Dominic Cummings and not waited for social bubbles to come along. People have also looked after grandchildren to allow their parents to work rather than send them to school. Not sure if that has spread the virus. People with second homes have come and stayed in them before this has been permitted by an ease of lock East Suffolk down. Elderly in particular still not wanting to go out as scared, even people who decided to self East Suffolk isolate and wasn't told to due to ill health. East Suffolk People relaxing and not taking possibility of a second wave of infection seriously. Not having a plan for a second wave. County should adopt a unified approach and should East Suffolk help to network groups in communities. Business closures and loss of jobs not surviving lockdown and the restrictions for public health affecting all leisure activities, tourism so important for the vitality of the town. The long term affect on the learning and development of children not in full time education for East Suffolk such a long time. East Suffolk Losing volunteers East Suffolk Social distancing being ignored and very confused messages from central government East Suffolk Non villagers coming into village and causing disruption. A mass outbreak within the village would compromise support for the elderly and East Suffolk vulnerable Covid-fatigue...Can we re-energise and respond. We will need our whole community to help us again, both by volunteering but also helping us get food, medication to the most vulnerable without negativity or anger. How do voluntary organisations not fall back into silo working. We have had very generous donations from our community but the economic fallout may mean that we cannot rely on these again. Hard to see how local East Suffolk government can fund local responses with the same generosity they have shown so far. East Suffolk For the elderly it is a lack of confidence and a degree of confusion. Anxiety See plan referred to above - total wellness (financial, emotional, physical, family and mental etc) across all sections but especially the younger part of our community through the summer, and especially if there is any second wave. Call/email me if you wish! We East Suffolk need to be smart, innovative and creative to get our community back on its feet ASAP. East Suffolk A second wave of the virus, for which we are completely ready East Suffolk Visitors (holiday makers) and second home owners returning more frequently. As ever, communication is the key. As we have A12 dissecting the village it is necessary East Suffolk to ensure the village acts a whole East Suffolk Tourists flocking to our beautiful area. The health of our volunteers, availability of our village stores, health of healthcare practice East Suffolk workers East Suffolk I feel there are no real threats.

THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to District future Covid-19 outbreaks in your local community? East Suffolk complacency amongst the apparently fit and healthy East Suffolk Going too fast and causing a second wave lockdown this winter East Suffolk Social distancing not happening in Lowestoft, Mental health and PTSD East Suffolk the initial adrenaline burst is over , there will be lethargy and complacency next time If residents choose not to observe gov guidelines e.g. 2meter distancing, including masks East Suffolk in appropriate places and transport. Difference between urban and rural responses – urban lack of community spirit. People East Suffolk being institutionalized into their houses Volunteer fatigue East Suffolk There isn’t. Volunteers can be quickly mobilised to support Some periods of heavy demand for support and help which were coped with but could East Suffolk potentially have burnt out volunteers East Suffolk Tourists and second home owners not following the rules. Threats to a quick recovery are employment opportunities, as the tourist industry is still closed down and when will it open. Following on from that are business costs incurred during the lockdown by smaller sole traders e.g. hairdressers, partnerships and larger firms. Threats to an effective response are within the committee of the group as decision making needs to be slicker, getting information out to all within the local community and maintaining information within the lockdown period, especially for those without the East Suffolk internet. East Suffolk People not abiding by guidelines. East Suffolk Local infrastructure being overwhelmed by tourists People are becoming complacent and I think many are not taking the risk seriously anymore. As the numbers of deaths and infections have fallen, people very much think that it isn't going to affect us. There appears to have been little enforcement of the lockdown rules in Beccles by police, that I'm aware of, so parties etc have continued. Perhaps having a system local to each area, whereby neighbours can report easily and anonymously, probably online, of those who aren't following the guidelines, with some form of specialists who can give enforcement notices or warnings or fines etc, with a really strong presence, to deter people from continuing to ignore the lockdown rules. Perhaps a East Suffolk better use of the parking attendants, who could patrol the town through the day. East Suffolk Poor adherence to 2 metre distancing . Lack of trace and track available. East Suffolk people ignoring guidelines The threats relate to a non coherent delivery of measures required to control and monitor outbreaks. There should be testing offered from local pharmacies, GP surgeries and that enable multiple testing to ensure testing has the correct chance of being taken at the point of infection that gives readings. It should not be that a testing point offers a test, which may give a negative for that person not to be allowed another test despite the chance that East Suffolk they could be a positive case within days but will be unable to have a test. closing roads in town centres removing free parking people will avoid towns if they can't East Suffolk get to them via car People not following instructions and being aggressive towards one an another. People East Suffolk with no patience The main threat is the possibility of lots of second homeowners and holidaymakers East Suffolk coming to Southwold and bringing the virus as well as overwhelming our health services To repeat: The lack of engagement of local volunteers has 'soured' the of support from East Suffolk volunteers. East Suffolk Unemployment poverty Lack of adherence to social distancing

THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to District future Covid-19 outbreaks in your local community? Ipswich Crowded areas For some they need to help to get technology or the internet. Many shopping trips done because many people have internet but not confident with internet shopping or don't have internet. This also caused problems with payment, so they don't do telephone or internet banking either. Need to offer support and training in this for older folk. Regarding recovery I would say anxiety about another outbreak is one area as well as the financial Ipswich impact on some people which will lead to mental health issues. Government - lack of clear leadership, lack of clarity, political decisions over-ruling scientific advice - there fore public not clear on guidance/legislation/advice and likely to Ipswich lead to widespread non-compliance if local spikes occur. Mid Suffolk None identified. The threat that we are dealing with most at the moment is that while many people have returned to work, we still have many vulnerable residents who require support - this has Mid Suffolk led to some issues with being able to help people in as timely a manner as we would like. Mid Suffolk Further outbreaks of Covid-19. Loss of funding, reserves depleted. quick recovery threatened by poverty and threats to education. A common educational problem seems to be that if a household has one vulnerable child (e.g. cystic fibrosis), they won't want to send other children back to school. I have no idea about future outbreaks. The church has massive local knowledge, but will "track and trace" access that Mid Suffolk knowledge? Volunteer burnout! There are only a few of us - we have managed, but a more severe local lockdown e.g. with many households unable to go out at once, would be impossible Mid Suffolk to manage. Mid Suffolk Complacence Don't understand the question - what's a "quick recovery” relate to? Do you mean to the virus? In which case we have a long way to go - the virus is still out there and people are afraid - especially those who are vulnerable. People who are likely to be very ill if they Mid Suffolk catch it. So they are waiting for the vaccine… Mid Suffolk people on a very low income As lockdown rules are relaxed communities should remain on alert to stay safe and ensure all government guidelines continues to be observed This is the best way to Mid Suffolk prevent the spread of covid 19. Mid Suffolk Finances Complacency bearing in mind Wattisfield seen as a low risk area. Tourism could bring the Mid Suffolk virus back from high risk areas. The Parish has been shielded naturally being a small community and everyone more or less adhering to the rules. The main threat is people from outside the area/County coming Mid Suffolk in to visit or work and they could bring the virus with them Volunteers that are Furloughed – KP, JS and DH discussed how they are concerned that as their volunteers begin to go back to work what will happen with the collections for food Mid Suffolk and medication supplies. Mid Suffolk A new outbreak and lockdown being imposed again. Mid Suffolk Very few Mid Suffolk See point 3 Keeping the infection rate low once social distancing is reduced - young people in West Suffolk particular are no longer taking this seriously West Suffolk Not fully sure what you're asking. Ageing population? Lack of volunteers?

THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to District future Covid-19 outbreaks in your local community? West Suffolk Lots of older people who are vulnerable West Suffolk People not adhering to the rules - more education and enforcement needed If there's a really concentrated outbreak of the virus in a village, the availability of help will West Suffolk be minimal. West Suffolk People thinking they're OK, or that they don't want to be a nuisance. West Suffolk Lack of an Emergencies Officer in post and lack of clear communication avenues West Suffolk Lack of information, losing engagement from volunteers West Suffolk The general public not taking it serious enough I think if we had to go back into lockdown we've got a tried and tested project that works. The main threat is that people will stop interacting or take themselves out of the WhatsApp group. We were lucky that we had enough people with DB Checks as there are a couple of teachers/church people in the village - we needed more really though so it didn't always fall on the same people. That's the main problem - having enough DB West Suffolk checked people. West Suffolk Confidence, confused messages/communication and social anxiety. Do not think there are any main threats to a quick recovery. As we have already dealt West Suffolk with the pandemic, any future outbreaks can be dealt with rapidly and effectively. Quick recovery-community not adhering to government guidelines /complacency. West Suffolk Effective future response-availability of appropriate funding where required. West Suffolk Unemployment I think one of the key threats is going to peoples understanding of the situation, as well as that peoples knowledge of what’s available is limited so this needs to be better West Suffolk coordinated Is the Racing Industry in Newmarket working to all guidelines? Will Tattersalls Sales have all the necessary checks in place to safeguard against rise in infection rates within the racing community with an increasing number of visitors and racing staff at the Sales? Complacency and arrogance at large - will the general public adhere to the on-going recommendations regarding safeguarding against a future outbreak or spike in infection West Suffolk rates over the coming months? Volunteers that are Furloughed –DH discussed how they are concerned that as their volunteers begin to go back to work what will happen with the collections for food and medication supplies. Burn-out of Volunteers – Volunteers from Newmarket have had West Suffolk issues of burning-out. Threats: too much social gathering too soon; lack of sanitizer use and indeed, lack of washing hands. Future: close things down quicker; playgrounds, schools, pubs. West Suffolk restaurants and so on West Suffolk being "imported" from outside Suffolk West Suffolk People getting busy again and not putting same effort into community support. Volunteers that are Furloughed – JS discussed how they are concerned that as their volunteers begin to go back to work what will happen with the collections for food and West Suffolk medication supplies. The main threat is the residual fear generated by the government's campaign. The residents now need accurate and timely information to restore their confidence. Not everyone has a smart phone, so there has to be a way of quickly disseminating information. Leaflet drop and face to face communication seems to have worked well West Suffolk here. But I appreciate I live in a village of only 320 houses.

THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to District future Covid-19 outbreaks in your local community? Older people are now frightened of going out and mixing. Younger people are finding increasing difficult to socially isolate. Our school teachers are exhausted having been open for up to 44 key workers children every day bar weekends including school holidays West Suffolk and half term as well as sending work out to children. Not correctly though out could lead to customers not wanted to come back out to support West Suffolk local businesses West Suffolk Mass gatherings, disregarding social distancing. 4000 being made redundant from Stansted Airport – unemployment Losing volunteers returning to work Mental Health Dementia Summer holidays – kids already have lost structure and purpose – could be problems during the summer break as would have had West Suffolk no structure for 6 months. West Suffolk Large public gatherings are a real threat. West Suffolk People may not be away from work and there may be fewer younger fit volunteers The volunteer pool being less available due to work/becoming ill/fatigue Less buy in from West Suffolk the community as their lives have returned to normal West Suffolk Lack of ongoing public support and distancing West Suffolk Idiots! People meeting up, not distancing and acting like it's an extended holiday Parking, ridiculous access demands - people will shop elsewhere. The town centre needs West Suffolk all the support it can get to survive.

8. THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to future Covid-19 outbreaks at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough and Suffolk) level?

THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to future Covid-19 outbreaks at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough District and Suffolk) level? All districts Lack of funding to the third sector reducing capacity Confusing messaging Increase in crime and anti-social behaviour - how would the CCB manage this as more people are getting frustrated? Increased distrust in others and the them and us situation - more fearful. Heightens difference between us - e.g. that group of people are not following social distancing. Enabling people to get over the barriers and fears that they can go out now after such a period of time - older people and shielded people for example. Lack of links with the hyper local groups - they haven't harnessed the links to do that. Public toilets being open - promotes independence and allows people to go out - if they are shut, then people are reluctant to go out. Closure of toilets restricts people, particularly women going out. With COVID there's the hygiene situation. Post COVID to have hand sanitisers, hand washing facilities. Increased reliance on face-masks makes it difficult for people All districts hard of hearing who rely on lip reading. All districts funding and adaptability All districts Set up of Partnership Babergh Ability and willingness to respond quickly and effectively when needed Babergh As above. Babergh Not putting plans in place Babergh WE HOPE THERE WILL BE NONE. Babergh Backlog from the lockdown period e.g. Health appointments. Babergh Lack of initial speed in getting info out Babergh Rent arrears causing increased homelessness. There may be an automatic assumption that traditional organisational approaches are Babergh needed and we lose the opportunities to work with community groups on their own terms Financial impact upon local authority funds. Closure of some charities which normally East Suffolk support the community could put pressure on the local authority/statutory services. East Suffolk No action to discourage or prevent anti-social visitors Lack of local contact tracing service East Suffolk Slow cascade of info. Not as reactive as our grass roots group is. East Suffolk No visibility Same as above. Who will manage these people? Officers having their day jobs to do. East Suffolk There has been no backfilling of posts. East Suffolk As 7. Not having a plan for a second wave. County should adopt a unified approach and should East Suffolk help to network groups in communities. Budgetary concerns which will restrict and claw back funding for local projects to support East Suffolk local community development East Suffolk Lack of police and therefore enforcement. Residents relaxing too much and not taking the threat seriously. Making it too bureaucratic East Suffolk to set up a GNS East Suffolk The same Food boxes from government a waste of time. Worried about where we will get funding East Suffolk in year or so time

THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to future Covid-19 outbreaks at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough District and Suffolk) level? Financial sustainability. It seems like managing local outbreaks will be the responsibility East Suffolk of local councils. that is challenging on a communication and implementation level. East Suffolk Loss of ability to communicate with the powers that be. Loss of focus, regional funding, stamina! Once again, we need to be smart, innovative East Suffolk and creative to get our community back on its feet ASAP. Take tourism?? East Suffolk Same as ours I believe Lack of Guidance for the Vulnerable – SC said how she feels that there is still a lack of guidance and uncertainty for vulnerable people being able to come back together which is East Suffolk affecting their wellbeing. East Suffolk Communication should be simplified and targeted. East Suffolk Tourists East Suffolk I think that is for the Board to determine East Suffolk Response time. East Suffolk PPE stocks for volunteers, Not learning from mistakes. The test trace project is also based on an app that does not work and call centre where the "computer says no". I am on Scrutiny and we are looking East Suffolk at this in October. East Suffolk Assuming there will be the same response in future East Suffolk See ESDC communities officer for her response East Suffolk Lack of information Apart from COVID numbers through local councillors and emergency planning rep on East Suffolk Board there was no real impact locally East Suffolk Being ignored or disregarded by District and County. Return of austerity, other priorities for the councils at various levels, employment loss East Suffolk within the local communities and communications with all the local population. East Suffolk As Q7 - Local infrastructure being overwhelmed by tourists Small businesses being unable to afford to continue, especially if they have to continue to pay rents and rates etc. These need to be stopped or greatly reduced or we risk losing East Suffolk many smaller independent shops. East Suffolk Use local volunteers East Suffolk don't know (where would I find this information?) The threats relate to a non coherent delivery of measures required to control and monitor outbreaks. There should be testing offered from local pharmacies, GP surgeries and that enable multiple testing to ensure testing has the correct chance of being taken at the point of infection that gives readings. It should not be that a testing point offers a test, which may give a negative for that person not to be allowed another test despite the chance that East Suffolk they could be a positive case within days but will be unable to have a test. East Suffolk lack of car access free parking East Suffolk As above people not doing as asked. To repeat: The lack of engagement of local volunteers has 'soured' the of support from East Suffolk volunteers. East Suffolk Lack of trust between district & county councils Financial impact upon local authority funds. Closure of some charities which normally Ipswich support the community could put pressure on the local authority/statutory services. see my answer to q7 - we will need swift, clear advice/guidance/rules and strong Ipswich coordinated response with strong direct and decisive leadership

THREATS - What are the main threats to a quick recovery and effective response to future Covid-19 outbreaks at a Collaborative Communities Board (District/Borough District and Suffolk) level? Further outbreaks of Covid-19. Loss of funding and impact on other service provision. Mid Suffolk Differing political ambitions of members. Effective response is as above ...... how will district council access the local knowledge Mid Suffolk here ? Mid Suffolk Don't understand the question - see above We need to ensure guidelines are kept and deal with new guidelines as they come out . Mid Suffolk Communities need to ensure everyone stays safe, Mid Suffolk Lack of funding from central government and depleted reserves. Mid Suffolk Lack of financial support for those who need it. A fresh outbreak of the pandemic. Mid Suffolk See point 3 West Suffolk Lack Council presence may mean there is no support for the community at all. West Suffolk as above West Suffolk Inertia. That those who have stepped up and taken on responsibilities and roles are moved to West Suffolk other duties West Suffolk Not learning lessons from what’s happened Just the general public not following rules. The community And companies have done the West Suffolk best they can to reduce risk. As I mentioned I think it would be an idea for you to have the toolkits ready at all times - West Suffolk might even be worth running a couple of half day courses. West Suffolk Confidence, confused messages/communication and social anxiety. West Suffolk Funding...as above. A huge threat is always going to be finance for these services as their isn’t enough funding available for these sorts of initiatives and the funding that is available isn’t easy to West Suffolk find either. West Suffolk See Question 7 - same applies Chief Executive and Leaders – DH said how he feels like the Chief Exec and Leaders of West Suffolk Council have only been seeing the positives which has not been very helpful West Suffolk when things have been going wrong. West Suffolk Slow decision making and a lack of action when rules are broken The main threats are the resident's confidence to go back to work and put children back West Suffolk into school. Imperative that arrangements are put in place for counselling and support for our school West Suffolk children, both primary and secondary as they return to school hopefully in September. Not correctly though out could lead to customers not wanted to come back out to support West Suffolk local businesses West Suffolk Mass gatherings, disregarding social distancing. West Suffolk Fatigue, resource issues West Suffolk less funds./manpower available as staff have returned to their normal work West Suffolk People breaking distancing rules West Suffolk As above