Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice: Council Services

Haringey is preparing for further impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and making sure that we continue to provide essential services to the public. Please see list below for changes to specific services (do note this page will be updated regularly).

Benefits and Council Tax - Financial support available, Council Tax Reduction, free school meals and clothing grant
Bruce Grove Youth Space - currently closed
Building Control - site visits are still taking place subject to conditions
Customer Services - Customer Service Centres are closed. Contact by phone or online
Domestic abuse services - call the Haringey Helpline for help and advice or email us
Energy bills - support available for vulnerable customers
Haringey Adult Learning Service (HALS) - courses now available online (and for free)
Haringey Works - events postponed. Contact the team via email or by phone
Housing - support for home renters and landlords; help available for rough-sleepers
Leisure Centres - currently closed
Licensing - no face to face service. Contact by email or phone
Libraries - currently closed however plenty of services are available online. Fines have been suspended and items on loan will not have to be returned indefinitely
Museum and Archives - currently closed to the public however is providing daily mailouts, news updates and an online gallery
Parking - enforcement of our on-street residential, shared use and permit parking bays suspended for key workers and residents
Parks - currently open, although park cafés, toilets, play areas, sports courts, outdoor gyms, skate parks and paddling pools are closed
Planning - restaurants, cafés (A3 uses) and pubs and bars (A4) may operate as ‘take-aways’ until further notice. Service contactable online, by phone and email
Registrars - no marriage appointments, citizenship ceremonies or birth registrations at present. There are also new rules around death registrations.
Refuse and Recycling - increasing pressure on waste services means possible delays - although we will try to keep these to a minimum. You can now book a slot to take items to the reuse and recycling centre. One-off garden waste collection service now available
Schools - some schools open for vulnerable children and the children of key workers
Social care services

Benefits and Council Tax

General information on accessing financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic can be found on the pages below:

Bruce Grove Youth Space

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the need to ensure the safety of young people, we have decided to temporarily close Bruce Grove Youth Space.

This measure will remain in place until it is safe for the centre to re-open.

Building Control

At present we are operating a normal service and are able to check plans and inspect work.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic all staff are currently working from home and site visits are still taking place subject to conditions - see building control pages for more details.

Customer Services

Both of our Customer Service Centres are closed until further notice.

This is because it is really important to follow the guidance on social distancing advice (external link). This is necessary to ensure we can protect those in the community who are most vulnerable and delay the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Staff who would have normally worked in the Customer Service Centres are being diverted to answering calls at our customer service contact centre. This is so you can still get in touch with us by calling 020 8489 0000.

We still need help to ensure we are prioritising those in the community that may be more vulnerable. To keep everyone safe, we are advising that you do not call us unless you really need to.

Remember you can do a wide range of transactions online at Haringey.gov.uk using any device (mobile, tablet or laptop).

Domestic abuse services

As advice remains to stay at home, we know some people will be feeling scared about the prospect of themselves or loved ones being at home with abusive partners or relatives.

The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Team at Haringey Council want to reassure all Haringey residents that there is help available. Both the police and our local DA and VAWG services are aware of the increase in risk and have made adaptions to their services to ensure they are able to continue to provide support during this time.

What you can do

What you can do if you or someone you know is worried about Domestic Abuse:

1. In immediate danger, you should always call the police on 999.

If you are unable to speak, you can press 55 and this will transfer your call to the relevant police force who will assist you without you having to speak.

2. Otherwise, you can call the Haringey Helpline for advice on 0300 012 0213.

If it is unsafe for you to speak on the phone, you can email on HaringeyIDVA@niaendingviolence.org.uk
The Haringey Helpline and email are available Monday to Friday, 10am-5.30pm, excluding bank holidays
- If you need advice outside of these times, you can ring the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 which is available 24/7

The National Domestic Abuse Helpline website (external link) provides guidance and support for potential victims, as well as those who are worried about friends and loved ones. They can also be called, for free and in confidence, 24 hours a day on 0808 2000 247.

If you’re a professional working in Haringey and would like more information about how you can support someone experiencing DA or VAWG, please email VAWG@haringey.gov.uk

Helplines and support if you're experiencing abuse

Hearthstone domestic Abuse Advice and Support Centre - 020 8888 5362
Solace Women's Aid Haringey - 020 8885 3557
Nia Project Haringey Information and Referral Line - 03000 120 213
National Domestic Violence Helpline - 0808 2000 247
Online support: Women's Aid online chat service (external link) - open Monday-Friday, 10am-12 noon
Men's Advice Line - 0808 801 0327
Respect helpline - 0808 802 4040: for anyone worried that they may be harming someone else
Galop - 0800 999 5428: national helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people experiencing domestic abuse

More online guidance

Domestic Abuse helplines poster - click for larger version (PDF, 200KB)

Energy bills

Britain’s energy suppliers have joined with the Government to launch an emergency package that ensures vulnerable customers are able to keep the lights on through the coronavirus crisis.

Find out more on the Housing Assistance and Grants page.

Haringey Adult Learning Service (HALS)

HALS is fully up and running as an online service and all courses are FREE until July 2020. We are running a full programme of all our normal courses, plus a few new ones, to keep your mind active during the lockdown.

Visit our HALS pages to find out more and enrol

Haringey Works

Haringey Works provides free employment and skills support exclusively for our borough’s residents. If you have recently become unemployed due to COVID-19 then Haringey Works can help.

Please contact the Haringey Work’s team via email: works@haringey.gov.uk or call 020 8489 2969 | 020 8489 2852, rather than visiting us at Wood Green library.

Haringey Works events have been postponed. We are currently working on potential online and other alternatives and will keep you updated.

Housing

Reassurance for renters and landlords during COVID-19 outbreak

Central government has issued a series of special measures to provide reassurance for home renters in both the private and social sector, as well as support for landlords during the COVID-19 outbreak.

All tenants are still liable for paying rent and are encouraged in the first instance to contact their landlord if they are experiencing payment issues to agree an affordable payment plan together. The package of support aims to ensure that no one is forced out of their home during this difficult time. Details include:

Emergency legislation to suspend new evictions from social or private rented accommodation while this national emergency is taking place
No new possession proceedings through applications to the court to start during the crisis
Landlords to be protected as 3 month mortgage payment holiday is extended to ‘Buy to Let’ mortgages

Visit GOV.UK for full details on government support available for landlords and renters reflecting the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak (external link)

At the end of the relief period tenants and landlords are asked to work together to agree a payment plan. Landlords are encouraged to consider the tenants' circumstances.

Where tenants are unable to pay rent Landlords are to be offered the same support as private home owners with lenders considering a payment holiday on Buy to Let mortgages.

Beneficiaries of government backed Help to Buy equity loans will be offered an interest free payment holiday if they are struggling to pay.

If your landlord advises you that you have to leave within the next 90 days, please contact Homes for Haringey at housing.needs@homesforharingey.org for advice.

Council tenants are encouraged to contact the income collection team if they are struggling with payments. Details can be found on the Homes for Haringey website (external link).

Homelessness

We know people rough sleeping are especially vulnerable to the worst effects of COVID-19 and our primary concern is to secure accommodation for everybody who is rough sleeping, where they can self-isolate.

Support for rough sleepers

A multi-agency team made up of Homes for Haringey, Haringey Council and Street Outreach services has successfully accommodated 65 people in the last week alone.

From supported housing and night shelters to our COVID-19 control room, for information on how our rough sleeping and homelessness services are operating at the moment, please see our Homelessness and rough sleeping page.

Mulberry Junction, our new dedicated resource centre in Tottenham for single people affected by or at risk of homelessness, will close its on-site service today (Wednesday 1 April). We will then begin a telephone and delivery service providing support to guests who are currently rough sleeping or who have been placed in temporary accommodation due to the COVID-19 situation.

If you are working with someone who is rough sleeping or will be rough sleeping tonight, please contact Mulberry Junction on 020 8489 4727 or email mulberry.junction@haringey.gov.uk

Leisure Centres

In line with government guidance all Leisure Centres are currently closed until further notice

Licensing

Due to the ongoing situation with Covid 19 we are unable to see the public face to face in the office.

If you have any queries or concerns relating to Licensing matters, need to report a premises for non-compliance, please email licensing@haringey.gov.uk or call the duty line during office hours 9am-4pm on 020 8489 8232.

See also new licensing and enforcement powers

Libraries

Despite our libraries are currently closed, we have a wide range of library online services that you can explore while we're all asked to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic - eBooks, audiobooks, newspapers, research tools and other online resources.

See all our library online services

All fines suspended

To help library users at this time, we are suspending all library book fines. Additionally, all items currently out on loan will not have to be returned indefinitely.

We will continue to review the situation.

Museum and Archives

Our remote-working staff at Bruce Castle Museum and Archives are ensuring you can still access its wealth of history.

With the venue now closed to the public until further notice, they are currently delving into the archives to share Haringey’s heritage with you via daily mailouts and news updates.

However, staff may not be able to assist with complex enquiries and all planned classes, events and school visits have either been cancelled or postponed until later in the year.

To sign up to the daily mailouts and news updates, email museum.services@haringey.gov.uk

Parking

We have made adjustments to parking enforcement to support essential NHS and police staff, as well as residents that have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have suspended enforcement in our resident, business and shared use and permit parking bays, in addition to our on-street Pay by Phone areas. Enforcement has also been suspended within council-run car parks. This means that key workers, and residents may use any of our on street residential, shared use and permit parking bays.

To ensure that we keep road users, vulnerable residents and those providing essential services safe, parking is prohibited on yellow lines, footways, disabled bays, loading bays and doctors’ bays. We will also remove/relocate any vehicle causing an obstruction by parking in any of those locations. If you suspect that your vehicle has been relocated, you can contact the London-wide TRACE service by:

Tracing your vehicle online (external link)
Texting "TRACE" followed by your Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM) to 66663 - you may be charged for this service
Calling the TRACE Customer Services Helpdesk on 0300 077 0100

If a vehicle is found parked in a suspended bay, we may have to relocate your vehicle to provide a utility company safe access to install connections to a property, or to enable contractors to carry out essential works on the public highway. In this instance, you must contact TRACE.

These measures are intended to provide stress-free access to parking, particularly for key workers who are serving our communities during this challenging time.

We will need to monitor those arrangements daily to ensure that demand does not exceed capacity in those bays, and we acknowledge that changes may need to be made at short notice and this may include resuming normal enforcement.

Parks

To help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, protect our NHS and save lives, we are urging residents to continue to stay home as much as possible.

If you do visit one of our parks, please remain at least 2 metres from others, and follow all instructions shown there.

At this time, all playgrounds, outdoor gyms and sport courts remain closed. We will provide updates on our parks pages if that changes.

Park events

We are not accepting any park hire applications for events taking place before 30 June 2020. If your event is planned to take place on or after 1 July 2020 please email us at parkevents@haringey.gov.uk to discuss further

Important note - please follow the current guidance around social distancing (external link) if using our parks and open spaces.

Dogs on leads

There is currently no concrete evidence that household pets can be infected with the coronavirus.

It is still very important though that dogs are kept on leashes at all times, and not allowed to roam free in our parks and open spaces to ensure their owners don’t inadvertently go within two metres of other park users in an effort to retrieve them.

Planning

See the latest information on how our Planning and Building Control services are operating during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Registrars

Due to the current situation, people will not be seen at the Register Office without an appointment - see Registrars pages for more details.

Births

No birth registrations are taking place at the moment. The government has said that you are now able to make a claim for Child Benefit or Universal Credit before you register the birth.

Please try not to worry and visit the GOV.UK website for the latest information (external link).

Marriage/Civil Partnership appointments and Citizenship Ceremonies

All appointments and Marriage/Civil Partnership ceremonies up to 31 July 2020 have been cancelled. All Citizenship Ceremonies are suspended indefinitely.

We will arrange a full refund back onto the card used, there is no need to contact us to make this happen. We are not booking weddings and civil partnerships at the moment. We hope to resume normal service as soon as it is safe and stable enough to do so - please visit our pages for the latest information:

Death registration

The government has made changes to the death registration process - see our Register a Death page for details. Please note: if the death occurred in hospital you need to register in the area of death and not in Haringey.

Please contact the Registrars service via email (registrars@haringey.gov.uk) if you need to request a refund.

Guidance for care of the deceased

National guidance has been published for care of the deceased with suspected or confirmed coronavirus.

Although this is a difficult topic, this information is designed to help to ensure that members of the funeral, pathology and other related professions can keep themselves safe and prevent the risk of infection from COVID-19 when they are in contact with the deceased.

The guidance will also advise mourners to safely organise and attend funerals and ensure a safe distance of at least two metres can be maintained between individuals.

Advice is that only members of the deceased person’s household or close family members should attend funerals and associated mourning rituals. Any individual displaying symptoms of coronavirus should not attend.

For all the latest information please visit the government website (external link)

Local cremation and burial services

Haringey Council no longer provides a cremation and burial service. This is now provided at Enfield Crematorium, Tottenham Cemetery and Wood Green Cemetery by Dignity Funerals Ltd.

The following link gives more details on how Covid-19 has affected their operations:

Cremation and burial services during the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic (external link)

Refuse and Recycling

Continuing our waste collection services in these uniquely challenging times

See our Continuing to provide essential services pages

Haringey and Veolia are working hard together to ensure that a range of waste collection services continue to be provided across the borough.

As is now the case across our society, coronavirus has had an impact within our workforce. Our staff are essential key workers and are doing their best, so please bear with us in these uniquely challenging times.

With many people now having to limit the amount of travelling they do and stay at home, we are seeing more waste produced at the kerbside and this is increasing pressure on waste services. You may, as a result, experience some disruption or delay to our collections but we will keep these to a minimum.

If your household waste, recycling or garden waste isn’t collected on the usual day, bear with us as we will aim to collect within 48 hours. We may be running slightly behind so there is no need to report it.

You can help to reduce the amount of waste you produce by:

Reusing and recycling where you can - and ensuring that recycling is clean and dry
Using your bins correctly, as well as squashing containers and flattening boxes
Ensuring all rubbish bags are securely tied to help prevent spills and protect our collection teams and the public
Not putting tissues in the recycling

If you are self-isolating, please also ensure you stick to the Government's 'Stay at home' advice, which states you should:

Store personal waste - such as used tissues and disposable cleaning cloths - securely within disposable rubbish bags
Place these bags into another bag, tie it securely and keep it separate from other waste
These bags should be put aside for at least three days before being put in your usual external general waste bin
Not take this, or any waste, to your local Waste and Recycling Centre - it is now closed

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Reuse and recycling centres (RRCs)

North London Waste Authority (NLWA) is now offering a limited service at Western Road Reuse and Recycling Centre - this service will only be available for those needing to dispose of waste causing a hazard to health.

You can book a slot using the online booking system (external link) that is now in place. Important: try using a different browser if the website fails to load.

Please do not turn up without an appointment as you will be turned away.

We would like to remind residents that travel is still currently restricted so only essential journeys should be made to dispose of waste, where absolutely necessary. Social distancing restrictions will be in place at the centre to help keep visitors and staff safe.

Regular household waste and recycling collections are still running as normal, and our Bulky Items Collection Service is available for anyone needing to dispose of larger items, while adhering to the current movement restrictions.

For more information please visit the Wise up to waste website (external link).

Food waste and recycling collections for flats

Haringey Council and Veolia have issued updated advice to those residents in flats who use bags from libraries for either their food waste collection or recycling collection.

With libraries closed and no suitable alternative outlet, we kindly request that once their supply of bags runs out, residents that live in flats/flats above shops present their waste in the following ways:

Residents that live in flats: For food waste collections, please line your caddy with newspaper and continue to use your food waste collection as normal.
Residents that live in flats above shops: For recycling collections, please put your recycling in your refuse collection.

We are having to make these changes at this time as part of our wider response to the Coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak and so that we can continue to deliver waste services in these challenging and unprecedented times.

The food waste and recycling collections for residents living in houses remain unaffected at this time. We thank you for your understanding, help and cooperation.

Green waste collection

If you have a build-up of garden waste that you would like us to take away, we are now offering a one-off green waste collection service, directly from your home.

Find out more on our Changes to Refuse and Recycling Services page

Social care services

See our dedicated Adult Social Care Support and Services during COVID-19 page for information on updates and any changes being made to our services.

Page last updated:

2 June 2020