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{{org_field_name}}

Registration Number: {{org_field_registration_no}}

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Cold Weather and Winter Safety Policy

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure the safety and well-being of service users, staff, and stakeholders during cold weather and winter months. Cold weather can present significant risks, particularly for vulnerable individuals such as older adults, those with chronic illnesses, disabilities, or mobility issues. This policy outlines proactive measures to mitigate risks associated with cold temperatures, snow, ice, and seasonal illnesses, ensuring the continuous delivery of high-quality domiciliary care services. This policy supports safe, person-centred, legally compliant care during periods of cold weather, snow, ice, and other winter-related disruption.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all employees, care workers, service users, their families, and contractors associated with {{org_field_name}}. It covers:

• Preparing for winter hazards.
• Cold weather risk assessments.
• Supporting service users during extreme cold temperatures.
• Staff safety and travel arrangements.
• Managing winter-related illnesses and emergencies.
• Compliance with legal and regulatory frameworks.

This policy must be read alongside the organisation’s policies on risk assessment, safeguarding, infection prevention and control, medicines, business continuity, lone working, incident reporting, duty of candour, consent and mental capacity.

3. Legal and Regulatory Framework

This policy is implemented in conjunction with the following legislation, regulations and guidance applicable to domiciliary care services in England:

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• Health and Social Care Act 2008
• Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, in particular:
  • Regulation 9 – Person-centred care
  • Regulation 10 – Dignity and respect
  • Regulation 11 – Need for consent
  • Regulation 12 – Safe care and treatment
  • Regulation 13 – Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment
  • Regulation 17 – Good governance
  • Regulation 18 – Staffing
  • Regulation 20 – Duty of candour
• Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, including requirements relating to notifications of certain incidents to CQC where applicable
• Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated Code of Practice
• Care Act 2014, including adult safeguarding duties
• Equality Act 2010
• Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) where relevant
• UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Adverse Weather and Health Plan and current weather health alert arrangements for cold weather.

{{org_field_name}} will have regard to current CQC guidance on the fundamental standards and will review this policy whenever legislation, national guidance, or local system arrangements change.

4. Identifying and Managing Cold Weather Risks

Cold temperatures, ice, snow, and winter illnesses can present serious health and safety concerns.

{{org_field_name}} ensures thorough planning and risk mitigation by:

• completing and documenting a cold weather and winter safety risk assessment for the service and, where relevant, for individual service users before and during the winter period;
• identifying service users at increased risk from cold weather, including people who are older, frail, housebound, living alone, living with dementia, learning disability, autism, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, poor mobility, sensory impairment, or fuel poverty;
• assessing environmental risks in and around the home, including inadequate heating, broken boilers, unsafe portable heaters, poor ventilation, carbon monoxide risk, frozen pipes, lighting failure, blocked access routes, snow, ice, and trip hazards;
• assessing risks linked to medicines, hydration, nutrition, continence, reduced mobility, falls, skin integrity, delayed visits, missed visits, and inability to obtain food, heating, or prescriptions;
• putting in place reasonable practicable measures to reduce identified risks, recording those controls in the care plan and risk assessment, and reviewing them when circumstances change;
• monitoring Met Office and UKHSA cold weather alerts and taking prompt action when alerts indicate an increased risk to health;
• ensuring that arrangements are in place for the prevention and control of infection during winter illness outbreaks; and
• working with relatives, commissioners, GPs, pharmacies, district nurses, emergency services and other relevant professionals where responsibility for care is shared or transferred.

5. Supporting Service Users in Cold Weather

Our domiciliary care service will support service users during cold weather in a person-centred way, based on assessed needs, known risks, preferences, protected characteristics, communication needs, and agreed outcomes.

This includes:

• supporting the service user, and where appropriate their relatives, representatives, attorneys, deputies or advocates, to understand cold weather risks and the steps available to reduce them;
• ensuring that indoor warmth, clothing, bedding, food, drinks, medication access, and emergency contact arrangements are considered within the person’s care plan and risk assessment;
• checking, where this forms part of the agreed care package, whether the person has adequate heating, safe heating use, sufficient food and fluids, access to prescribed medicines, and means of contacting help;
• promoting safe indoor temperatures and reducing exposure to cold, while respecting the person’s choices, wishes, privacy, dignity, culture and lifestyle;
• monitoring for signs of deterioration, including hypothermia, falls, breathlessness, chest infection, confusion, dehydration, worsening long-term conditions, or inability to cope safely at home;
• escalating concerns without delay in accordance with clinical need, including contacting family, the office, NHS 111, the GP, community pharmacy, district nurse, or emergency services as appropriate;
• recording actions taken, advice given, refusals of support, and escalation decisions clearly and contemporaneously.

Care and support will only be provided with the consent of the relevant person. Where there is doubt about a person’s capacity to make a specific decision, staff must act in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005, local procedures, and any lawful best-interest decision-making arrangements.

6. Consent, Mental Capacity and Safeguarding in Cold Weather

{{org_field_name}} recognises that cold weather may increase risks relating to self-neglect, abuse, unsafe living conditions, and inability to make or communicate decisions.

Staff must:

• seek and record consent before providing care, support or intervention, unless immediate action is required to prevent serious harm and is lawful;
• provide information in a format the service user can understand, taking account of communication needs, sensory impairment, language, cognition and the Accessible Information Standard where relevant;
• recognise where a service user may lack capacity to make a specific decision relating to winter safety, heating, nutrition, hydration, medication, or access to urgent care, and follow the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and local procedure;
• raise safeguarding concerns promptly where there are indicators of abuse, neglect, self-neglect, coercive control, financial abuse affecting ability to heat the home, or wilful neglect;
• report safeguarding concerns to the local authority and other agencies in line with the safeguarding policy and local multi-agency procedures; and
• maintain the person’s dignity, privacy and human rights at all times.

7. Staff Safety and Travel Arrangements

{{org_field_name}} will take all reasonable steps to protect staff and maintain safe service delivery during cold weather. This includes:

• carrying out dynamic risk assessments for staff travel and lone working during severe weather;
• ensuring sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff are available to meet assessed needs safely;
• prioritising visits according to risk, dependency, time-critical tasks, medicines support, and welfare concerns;
• reviewing rotas, travel routes and call schedules in response to weather conditions, staffing shortages, or transport disruption;
• providing staff with clear escalation routes if they cannot safely reach a service user or if there is likely to be a delayed or missed call;
• issuing appropriate winter safety information, including guidance on footwear, clothing, vehicle readiness, manual handling on icy surfaces, infection prevention, and use of mobile phones;
• taking appropriate action where travel is unsafe, including redeploying staff, using alternative staff, increasing telephone welfare checks where safe and suitable, and escalating urgent concerns immediately; and
• recording all significant delays, missed visits, alternative arrangements and management decisions.

8. Managing Winter-Related Illnesses

Cold weather may increase the risk of respiratory infection, influenza, COVID-19, dehydration, reduced mobility, deterioration of long-term conditions, and hospital admission. {{org_field_name}} will reduce these risks by:

• promoting good infection prevention and control practice, including hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, cleaning of shared equipment, and use of personal protective equipment where indicated by risk assessment or current guidance;
• supporting service users to access healthcare advice promptly where symptoms suggest infection or clinical deterioration;
• observing and responding to signs such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, confusion, reduced oral intake, weakness, reduced mobility, or low room temperature;
• escalating urgent concerns without delay and calling emergency services where there is immediate risk to life or serious deterioration;
• supporting, where appropriate and within the agreed scope of service, access to vaccinations, prescribed medicines and repeat prescriptions; and
• documenting observations, actions, advice given and referrals made.

9. Emergency Response to Cold Weather Conditions

{{org_field_name}} will maintain a winter contingency and service continuity response to reduce the risk of unsafe or interrupted care.

This will include:

• maintaining an up-to-date list of service users who are high priority because of frailty, complex needs, time-critical medicines, insulin, nutrition, hydration, lack of family support, or inability to summon help;
• implementing a clear escalation process for delayed, missed or unsafe visits;
• maintaining current contact details for staff, service users, relatives, commissioners and partner professionals;
• putting in place arrangements for business disruption, including severe snow, ice, flooding, power cuts, heating failure, fuel shortage, telecommunications failure, or widespread staff absence;
• making alternative arrangements where the planned visit cannot proceed safely, including staff redeployment, management support, family contact, welfare calls, or emergency escalation;
• ensuring that any decision to alter the care delivery plan is risk assessed, authorised by an appropriate manager, communicated clearly, and recorded; and
• reviewing serious incidents and near misses after the event to identify lessons learned and improve future resilience.

10. Staff Training and Awareness

All relevant staff will receive training, instruction, supervision and competency support appropriate to their role. Winter-related training and briefing will include:

• recognition of cold-related risks and vulnerable groups;
• recognising signs of hypothermia, dehydration, infection, falls risk, and deterioration in long-term conditions;
• person-centred care planning during adverse weather;
• consent, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and escalation where capacity is in doubt;
• safeguarding adults, including self-neglect and unsafe home conditions;
• infection prevention and control;
• lone working and staff personal safety;
• travel safety and action during severe weather disruption;
• incident reporting, record keeping, escalation procedures and duty of candour.

Regular refresher training sessions ensure that all employees remain up to date on best practices for winter safety.

11. Monitoring, Compliance, and Continuous Improvement

{{org_field_name}} will monitor implementation of this policy through effective governance systems and processes. This will include:

• audit of winter-related risk assessments, care plans, incident records, missed and delayed visit records, and escalation logs;
• review of complaints, compliments, safeguarding concerns, accidents, near misses and winter-related health deterioration;
• oversight of staffing levels, travel disruption, call monitoring, and business continuity actions;
• review of whether records are complete, accurate, contemporaneous and securely maintained;
• analysis of themes, trends and lessons learned, with action plans where improvement is required;
• obtaining feedback from service users, relatives and staff about how winter risks were managed; and
• evidencing management oversight, decision-making and follow-up actions.

 

12. Duty of Candour, Incident Reporting and Notifications

{{org_field_name}} will act in an open and transparent way in relation to care and treatment provided during cold weather and winter disruption.

Where a winter-related incident results in, or may have resulted in, harm, the service will:

• ensure the immediate safety of the service user;
• report the incident internally without delay;
• investigate the circumstances and identify contributory factors;
• be open and honest with the service user and/or relevant person in line with the duty of candour;
• apologise where appropriate, explain what is known, explain what actions are being taken, and keep a written record of the communication; and
• make any required safeguarding, contractual, statutory or CQC notifications in accordance with applicable law and internal procedures.

13. Policy Review and Updates

This policy will be reviewed at least annually and sooner where there are changes to legislation, CQC guidance, UKHSA guidance, weather-health alert arrangements, local safeguarding procedures, or learning from incidents, complaints, audits or inspections. Any updates will be communicated to all staff, service users, and relevant stakeholders.

14. Conclusion

By implementing this Cold Weather and Winter Safety Policy, our domiciliary care service ensures that service users receive safe, effective, and high-quality care throughout the winter months. Through proactive risk assessments, staff training, service continuity planning, and close collaboration with external agencies, we mitigate the impact of cold weather and protect the well-being of both service users and staff. {{org_field_name}} remains committed to adapting to seasonal challenges, ensuring resilience, and maintaining a person-centred approach to care in all weather conditions.

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Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}
Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}
Next Review Date: {{next_review_date}}
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