Extratime’s COVID-19 response

For the latest updates from Extratime please visit our news page.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we’ve responded to rapidly changing circumstances as creatively as we can to support and protect everyone in the Extratime community through this difficult time.

The health, safety and emotional wellbeing of our staff, children, families and the wider community informs all of our decision making. We are carefully following national and local government guidance and working in partnership with all stakeholders to balance the risk of COVID-19 against the immediate and longer term needs of families who rely on Extratime to support their family. We are committed to keeping all staff, families, partners, commissioners and funders updated as this rapidly changing situation unfolds.

You can find our risk assessment and parent carer guidance here.

Our staff
Where possible the team are working at home, using phone and video conferencing to run virtual services, staff and trustees meetings.

Where staff are unable to work, we have made use of the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to support jobs and sustain the charity’s future. This means some of our colleagues have been / are on furlough for short periods.

Our Families
We have continued to run physical clubs and schemes whenever this was safe and legal. For certain periods we have been forced to close, either due to Government regulations or local authority advice. 

We know how tough this is for Extratime families who are also coping without school places, short breaks and support networks. Although it’s not the same as a physical place at Extratime, since March 2020 we have listened to families to develop alternative activities via [email protected]. This offer currently includes;

We are listening carefully to what families would like from us so if you have any special requests please let us know.

Alongside this in the early days of COVID-19 we also set up a Food Delivery Hub at Extratime’s usual home at Portslade Village Centre as part of a city wide project run by Brighton & Hove Food Partnership.

It’s likely that we’ll continue to offer a blend of physical and virtual services as normal life gradually resumes over the coming months. Please keep in touch with us to let us know what you’re enjoying and if there’s anything else you would like from us. We are still here for you and your family, so if there is anything else you need, please let us know. We are in constant contact with parent carer groups, the councils, schools and other charities, so if we can’t help, we will probably know someone who can.

Please visit our Advice, Information and Support (Covid-19) page for useful links.

Warmest wishes