Dear regulated members and stakeholders
Following the latest government advice in respect of the COVID-19 outbreak, CILEx Regulation (including the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and CILEx Law School) has reviewed its business continuity arrangements. This is to ensure that we can continue to run our operations largely as normal, and to maintain the best possible service to our regulated community and stakeholders, whilst protecting the health of our employees.
We believe it’s critical to do our part to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and therefore we have implemented a number of measures to protect everyone in this ever-evolving situation:
• We are following government guidance and advice from the NHS and UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and have ceased all face to face events, meetings and non-essential travel. Wherever possible virtual services such as webinars and video conferences are being used to enable our continued interaction with our regulated member network and stakeholder community.
• Visitors will not be permitted to CILEx premises and our services will be delivered by staff operating remotely.
We are equally committed to taking care of our employees:
• We are providing emergency time off to enable team members to quarantine if necessary;
• We are following medical and hygiene advice to ensure we are taking all the necessary steps to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff;
• We are asking individuals to refrain from travel unless critical, and have established quarantine procedures after travel to high-risk areas;
• We have invested in our systems and facilities and are providing additional resources to help employees work differently including home-based working and flexible shift patterns to accommodate self-isolation, childcare commitments and social distancing;
• We are utilising technology and online tools to allow our staff to stay connected with each other and you our regulated members and stakeholders.
These measures will remain in place until at least May 2020 but will be kept under review in accordance with government advice and guidance and as the COVID-19 situation evolves.
While the environment around us is uncertain and constantly changing, we are lucky to have a team of dedicated staff who continue to be committed to delivering the best possible service in the circumstances. We ask for your support and understanding, recognising that your interactions with us may need to be through different channels and you may experience slower than usual response rates.
Communications
Due to changes in our current working practices, all CILEx Regulation communications should now be directed to our central mailbox: info@cilexregulation.org.uk. Application specific queries should be directed to applications@cilexregulation.org.uk. In view of the potential increase in email volume, response times may vary but we will look to respond within 7-10 days.
Further updates will be provided in line with future developments but in the meantime, we hope that you will find our websites, portals and social media channels to be a source of information, support, inspiration and solutions for you during this challenging period.
Yours sincerely
Carilyn Burman
Chief Executive, CILEx Regulation
