How to help safely

Helping others

The one thing everyone can do to help others is to follow the government advice for the local COVID alert level.

However, there are also many opportunities to volunteer to help support neighbours, communities and the NHS.

The government has published guidance on how to help safely – please read this first.

Look out for your neighbours

The best and simplest thing everyone can do right now is look out for their vulnerable neighbours and offer essential help – but at the same time to do everything possible to obey the social distancing rules and limit the spread of the virus.

Stay safe when supporting others

Please read the government guidance on how to help safely, and be careful to follow this guidance in order to minimise risk of infection and avoid spreading it to others. If you volunteer via an organisation you should also contact them for advice on whether it is safe for you to volunteer.

Payment options for volunteer shoppers

If you can’t leave the house and are relying on someone else to get your shopping for you, its important to consider the safest way to pay and what options are available.

Click and collect services

Most major supermarkets offer a click and collect service, where you can order and pay for your groceries online. You can then share the order reference number with your friend, neighbour or community volunteer who can then go and collect the shopping on your behalf at the allotted time.

Some smaller local shops are also happy for you to ring them to place an order for someone else to collect on your behalf and either take a payment over the phone in advance or when its ready to be collected.

Supermarket e-cards

Some supermarkets have launched special e-cards for self-isolating customers who want to arrange payment for groceries delivered by volunteers, friends or family members.

They offer a safe, secure and contact-free way to allow others to shop for them, without having to hand over cash or share bank card details.

They can be bought easily online and then emailed to whoever is doing the shopping, or printed out and left in a safe place for them to pick up. They can be topped up online, and people will also be able to check their balance and keep track of their spending.

Please visit your preferred retailer’s website to find out more.

Paying online

If you’re online, and the person shopping for you is online too, then you could pay them for your shopping via bank transfer using your online banking service. You would need their bank details to set them up as a payee, then you can simply log on and transfer the right amount each time they do your shopping.

If you don’t want to swap bank details, you could use PayPal. It’s easy to set up an account and you just need to know the email address someone has signed up with in order to send them some money.

Paying by phone

If you don’t have internet access, you can set up telephone banking, which allows you to check your balance and pay people. You will need to speak to someone at the bank to set telephone banking up.

Once it’s set up, make sure you have the full name, sort code and account number of the person you need to pay.  Some banks have an automated service for making payments via telephone banking, others you’ll need to speak to them to give them the details each time you want to pay someone.

Other options

Some banks offer the option to get a special one time code that you can send to the person buying your shopping so they can get cash out of an ATM machine or the Post Office without needing a debit card. You set the amount you want them to be able to withdraw, up to the limit set by the bank.

Some banks also offer a special bank card, separate to your debit card, that you can add money to and give to the person doing your shopping so they can use it pay.

Cash or cheque

As a last resort, you could pay the person doing your shopping with cash or a cheque.

You would need to make sure the person doing your shopping is happy to receive cheques, as many banks are operating reduced opening hours and they may not want to visit their local branch or Post Office to cash it at the moment. However, some banks allow mobile banking customers to cash cheques by taking a photo of both sides. Other banks let you post cheques to them.

All physical forms of payment (cash, cheque, cards) carry more risk than the virtual options due social distancing and hygiene guidelines.

Whichever method you pick, make sure you stay in control of how much money you’re giving over to someone else, and never hand over your debit or credit card and PIN.

NHS Volunteer Responders

Recruitment for NHS Volunteer Responders has reopened across specific locations that are still in need of volunteers to support the NHS and the social care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit the GoodSAM website to become an NHS Volunteer Responder, to be called on to do simple but vital tasks such as:

• delivering medicines from pharmacies
• driving patients to appointments
• bringing them home from the hospital
• or making regular phone calls to check on people isolating at home

NHS Volunteer Responders is not intended to replace local groups helping their vulnerable neighbours but is an additional service provided by the NHS.

Find a local community support group to help

Many communities in Devon are putting together local initiatives to support those in need:

• Get in touch with your local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) who are coordinating volunteers and community groups. If you are in Exeter, visit the Exeter Community Wellbeing website and for the rest of Devon find contact details on the Devon Voluntary Action (DeVA) website
• You can view a full list of the community support groups we are aware of on our Pinpoint website.