Hello!

We are starting to try and run a limited amount of events from September, with a bounty of extra precautions in place. Below are the various guidelines that will enable us all to do this as safely as possible, please take a moment to have a look over them.

We will of course keep an eye on all developments, and make changes as necessary. But if you have any questions, do let us know.

Best Wishes,

Julie, Rachel & The Rest of The Crafty Hen HQ team

COVID-19 Guidelines

Additional Guidance for Freelancers

Risk Assessment

July 2020:

It is with a very heavy heart we have made the difficult decision to cancel ALL Crafty Hen sessions from now until Mid August 2020.

Based on government guidelines, and your health & wellbeing, we have decided to make this tough call. Many participants in our groups  (and often yourselves) fall in to vulnerable categories, and we feel it is the right decision to make. 

We have no idea how this will effect The Crafty Hen in the long term, but hoping we can survive the immediate impact of this. 

We’ll be reviewing this situation as time progresses and will keep you all updated. 

We are encouraging groups to postpone where possible and of course you will be re-offered the same jobs as and when clients re-book. We are allowing people 18 months to re-book as we have no idea what the situation will be like to come. 

We are acutely aware that many of you are fully freelance and know this will have a massive impact on your income stream. Do see what help the government can give with regard to universal credit and statutory sick pay. 

This is strange and troubling situation that we can’t see the end of as yet, and we need to try and make the best of this situation. 

Please accept out sincerest apologies, and should we have any ways to involve you in stuff from a safe distance we will very much be in touch!

Meanwhile we hope you manage a bit of crafting at home during this time of isolation. 

Please keep in touch with us, and we’ll be in touch as we have any news to share. 

Julie, Rachel & The Rest of The Crafty Hen HQ team

Friday 13th March 2020

Team, as the COVID-19 outbreak is growing we are acutely aware that we need to put extra precautionary measures in place for sessions, to protect you and clients. Please see these measures detailed below and act accordingly. 

1. We are requiring all group organisers to discuss and raise concerns with members of their group about any potential increased risk of anyone taking part in an organised session, i.e has anyone recently travelled from affected areas, been in contact with, or showing any symptoms to not attend. We are also directing them to government guidelines on it. We are also asking for this information to be passed on to us should there be any risk whatsoever.

   
   

2. We would also ask that you follow precautions and also read the government guidelines, which predominantly include good hygiene practices as outlined by the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS to reduce any risk to those in attendance on the day.

   
   

3. We kindly ask that before handling any of our materials, resources or tools, you wash your hands thoroughly as outlined above to reduce risks. This stands when checking materials ahead of the event, on the day of the session, and when packing materials for return. 

   
   

4. On the day of a session we ask that you wash your hands thoroughly upon arrival and are clear about this to the group (so to demonstrate good practice), if this is not possible, please use hand sanitiser. 

   • We are working on providing these for all sessions, but may take a few weeks before we have these with you…. Due to the long lead time we have and the sessions already sent out to you. Please do provide your own, if it’s before we have got some to you.

   
   

5. Please ask ALL participants to wash their hands thoroughly before handling any materials and beginning the session. We realise this may be a tad awkward, but we will back this up with an email to clients ahead of their session. If working at a private venue (holiday let / private home), hand washing with soap and hot water is preferred, If in a public venue and hand washing isn’t possible, ask them to sanitise their hands accordingly.  This is super important - due to tool handling by the group. 

   • We have strongly advised groups against eating any food alongside workshop, feel free to remind groups of this if necessary.

   • Should you need to purchase hand sanitiser for the event and a group to use, please add this cost to your invoice and return the rest of the bottle to us, so we can add to supplies. 

     
     

6. I’m sure it goes without saying if you are unwell and are displaying any symptoms of Coronavirus, please inform us IMMEDIATELY if you have recently run any sessions, or have any coming up, so we can put a plan in place to cover / try and solve this issue from a practical side. In this instance please do not handle ANY of our materials -  I’m sure you’ll be able to regulate this yourselves and don’t need this reminder from us! The sooner you can notify us the more likely it is we can do something about it and are able to still provide a service to clients.  

   
   

7. We will be reviewing this advice regularly and as any changes are advised by Public Health England we will inform you and act accordingly. Given the uncertainty regarding the virus’ potential spread, we can not be more specific at this stage, but will review everything on a case by case basis for now. 

Most importantly the more knowledge & notice we have the more likely we are able to solve potential situations and issues, so do keep us informed if there is anything you feel we should know. 

Any questions, please send our way and we’ll do our best to help. 

We will of course continue to keep a close eye on all developments, update this advice regularly and follow government guidelines as and when the situation changes.

Thanks for your co-operation with this. 

Julie, Rachel, and The Crafty Hen HQ team