Faith groups offer a warm and welcoming presence providing care, protection and support to all those within their community. This is an honoured, long term tradition with a focus for the sick, disabled, vulnerable and lonely.
Barnet Community Hub
Barnet Borough COVID-19 Help
Request for help in the community
We will be updating this page as advise comes through.
Barnet Foodbanks
Barnet Wellbeing Hub
Resources to aid wellbeing in isolation – CommunityBarnet
Government guidance 12 March
NHS guidance
ncvo advice
interfaith.org.uk advice
Mayor of London COVID-19 Support page
What Support is available in Barnet
Download a pdf with contact details for support in Barnet
Rapid community COVID-19 testing for those who leave home for work or school
Rapid community testing has been introduced in Barnet for those who do not have symptoms of COVID-19. With the current national lockdown restrictions, this is only for those who have to leave home to go to work or school. For more information
Lockdown information from GLA in Bengali, Gujarati, Polish, Romanian, Turkish and Somali
Following the government’s recent announcement that the country is entering a lockdown, it is vital that communities are informed and understand the new rules. We need your support to ensure that everyone can access the information they need.
To this end, we have produced translated audio clips to explain the latest guidance and why we all need to follow it
We have also supported Doctors of the World in producing translated Wellbeing Guidance, which Londoners might find especially useful now that we are in lockdown. These resources and others are available on our Translated COVID hub.
Covid-19 Testing Sites in Barnet – update
Government Guidance on the safe opening of places of worship – Update 27 July
Guidance from the Diocese of Westminster on re-opening for private prayer
Multi-language Covid infographics
Visit website – Infographic downloads available in different languages
Celebrate Eid – downloadable resources
Government resources Materials to help communicate the “Alert” phase of the Covid-19 campaign during Ramadan.
Please note these assets are cleared for use in England only. These resources replace “Stay At Home” campaign materials.
Resources available:
- Posters
- Social Media Resources
- Digital Screens
- Digital OOH
- Web banners
- Email signatures
Moral and Ethical Advisory Group
The Moral and Ethical Advisory Group (MEAG) provides independent advice to the UK government on moral, ethical and faith considerations on health and social care related issues. Read more on GOV.UK website
Small Charity Coalition
The coalition has set up a dedicated COVID-19 Resources Fundraising page which lists 15 funds set up to assist small charities impacted by the pandemic, as well as pointing to a number of digital platforms. Fundraising Tools
London Resilience Forum guidance for Funeral Standards – 19 April 2020
Ramadan is approaching. Helpful guidance from Muslim Council of Britain.
Barnet Covid19 Support Helpline Update
| If you, a family member, friend, or close member of your community are in need of urgent help that is not medical related, then please:complete the online form on the Barnet website for help and support, orcall the FREE Helpline on 0808 281 3210 (open Monday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm) If you need medical help you should phone NHS 111 – or for genuinely urgent medical help, 999.If you need help with an urgent prescription, please try contacting your GP or pharmacy first. |
Guidance for Safe Funeral from Barnet Council
Helpline for Faith Institutions during Covid-19 – SFI – 0333 772 1989
SFI are responding to the concerns and issues of faith centres nationwide, with a dedicated helpline for any place of worship.
The helpline will be staffed with expert consultants from 1-7pm every day of the week. The helpline will provide up-to-date advice for faith centres on financial concerns, health and safety issues, gift-aid, online safeguarding, tech support for online engagement, legal advice, and other issues of concern during this crisis.
Any faith centre manager, trustee, volunteer, or clergy from every faith is welcome to call the helpline at 0333 772 1989. Visit SFI website.
Government to amend emergency coronavirus bill to stop cremation against families’ wishes
Read the article in The JC
Clear Guidance on Religious Venues
Extract from Government / Police Central…
At the end of last week, the Government announced that a series of businesses and premises must remain closed. This list included places of worship.
Whilst we cannot give direction or permission for a person(s) to enter a religious venue for one or more or the reasons being asked, we must strongly reiterate the government’s advice about the only reason such a place should be open and who is permitted to attend.
These are:
Funerals, where the congregation is immediate family (with provision for a carer, if required) or a friend – in the case that no family members are attending. A distance of 2 metres is to be maintained between every household group, as per Public Health England guidelines.
- A minister of religion, to go to their place of worship may broadcast an act of worship, whether over the internet or otherwise.
- For the purpose of hosting essential voluntary or public service*, such as food banks, homeless services, and blood donation sessions.
*For public services the guidelines state the cooking facility at religious venues can only remain open and operational in the capacity of a food bank service. This would require food to be prepared by only 1 or 2 persons at the venue and distributed into the Community by volunteers who would NOT enter the venue, but collect the parcels and provide them free of charge to the homeless, elderly and vulnerable who depend on this public service. All persons involved in this must adhere to the social distancing rule of two metres.
Please ensure that, and members of your community all follow the government’s guidelines strictly and ensure that there is no consumption of food anywhere within the religious venue as this is prohibited.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support in the community at this time, it is essential especially for the homeless, elderly and vulnerable who are unable to leave their homes. Please know we are here to support you, if we all follow the instructions and guidelines provided by the Government we will get through this together.
Amendment to Burial Issue Accepted
Dr. Mozammel Haque
As the Parliament went to debate on Monday, 23 March 2020 Muslim community was requested to contact or write to their political representative Member of Parliament to them to have a Muslim burial and not cremation.
Read more
Message from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference – summary
In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, so many aspects of our lives must change…
Our churches will remain open. They are not closing. They will be a focal point of prayer, where you will find solace and strength. In visiting our churches at this time, we will observe with great care the practices of hygiene and the guidance on social distancing.
However, the celebration of Mass, Sunday by Sunday and day by day, will take place without a public congregation.
People of all faiths and beliefs need to support one another
| Read a message from Phil Champain, Director of the Faith & Belief Forum |
Guidance from The Methodist Church
Updated 17 March 15:00 https://www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/coronavirus-guidance/
The Muslim Council of Britain calls for all Mosques to suspend congregational prayers in Mosques.
Guidance from the Church of England
“In light of the Government guidance around non-essential contact, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have issued advice that public worship is suspended until further notice.
Churches should be open where possible but with no public worship services taking place. Prayers can be said by clergy and ministers on behalf of everyone and churches should consider ways of sharing this with the wider community. See more below on digital resources that are under development and currently available.”
https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches
London COVID-19 information and data updates
https://groundswellproject.net/coronavirus
Corona Advice in community languages from members Doctors of the World
Doctors of the World (DOTW) are really pleased to be able to share Coronavirus (Covid 19) advice for patients in 20 languages, which were produced in partnership with the Red Cross, Migrant Help and Clear Voice.
Available now: English, Albanian, Dari, French, Pashto, PortugueseComing VERY soon: Mandarin, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Arabic, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Farsi
You can find them on our google drive here.
The guidance is based on the government’s updated advice and health information. We really hope it will help to ensure this important guidance reaches migrant and asylum-seeking communities in the UK. https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/news/coronavirus-information/#
We would be happy if you could please share these with your patients, service users and your networks widely so that we reach out to all communities who would like this crucial information in their own language.