The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a huge inflation of the rules and guidance that people must follow on a daily basis. Not only are there more rules and guidance, these rules are in a constant state of change, and even – during the tier system – are different depending on the area you live in. This makes it a lot harder for people to identify and to find out whether or not they are following the rules. We are all asked to stay at home and to obey the rules to save lives and protect the NHS – yet how can you follow rules you do not know? The gov.uk website is undoubtedly the only place one can go to find the full set of rules, yet very few people in my experience even know about the website, let alone know how to navigate the website. Indeed, I have been working in a public facing role in constant contact with members of the public and many simply do not know the full set of rules or even know where to go to find out. A lack of knowledge of the rules has clearly caused an indirect breaking of the rules.
Furthermore, it is not just difficulty accessing guidance, It is the plethora of brilliant Government assistance that is available. Some of the bigger schemes like the furlough scheme are well documented – but what about grants for green projects? how to obtain your shielding note? how to get a voucher to fix your bike? How many people know these exist?
Simply put, whilst the gov.uk website does exist it is not well known about and hard to navigate. A better and more focused website that is more well-known could increase compliance and help to restrict the virus spreading.
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