Kent County Councillors have been told that the authority is preparing for hundreds of staff to work from home as part of contingency measures to deal with the escalating coronavirus crisis.

Council chiefs have said they are preparing for the next stage by using plans that were put in place for dealing with the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.

Stefanie Holtcastle, interim director of environment, transport and planning, said a key part of the council’s plans would involve staff working at home to limit the spread of infection.

“The advantage to the county council of Brexit is that we are very well prepared for a lot of remote working - we are basically dusting off all the Brexit plans such as [providing] remote working licences,” she said.

Additional laptops had been ordered to help more employees avoid the need to go into their office, she added.

She was responding to a question by Cllr Andrew Cook at a meeting of the authority’s Growth, Economic Development and Communities Cabinet Committee. He asked if the council was confident that it could operate if it was forced into lockdown.

The meeting heard that KCC was preparing to respond to the next stage in the government’s plans and a priority would be ensuring vulnerable elderly people continued to get the care they needed.

“We are in containment but are expecting to go into delay very soon..."

Allison Duggal, the county council’s deputy director of public health, said there would need to be a pragmatic approach to ensure the council had practical measures in place to maintain services for the elderly.

“We are in containment but are expecting to go into delay very soon. We are as a matter of urgency considering adult social care and domiciliary care to make sure people who are bed-ridden or house-bound do get the care they need if things escalate further.”

A report on the authority's risk register and how it deals with emergencies said that Kent in the last two years, the county's response to Brexit had placed it under the spotlight because of its key role in minimising disruption caused by Brexit.

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