COVID-19 Support Hotline switching to email

Following a significant reduction in the number of calls, and the publication of the government’s roadmap for the upcoming easing of restrictions in England, the decision has been made to scale back the operation of the University’s COVID-19 Support Hotline.

The hotline was launched in November to assist students, staff, parents and members of the public with any queries they had in relation to the University’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, a dedicated team of more than 40 volunteers from across the University have helped to answer nearly 1,000 calls – providing timely advice and reassurance at this uncertain time.

In recent weeks, calls to the hotline have dramatically decreased, so the decision has been made to stand-down the phone line and switch to a dedicated email inbox, which will be monitored by a smaller team, from Monday, 1 March. Emails will be checked during working hours Monday to Friday and any queries will be responded to quickly.

However, the hotline will remain on stand-by in case it is needed to be reinstated again in the future.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of the volunteers who have helped to answer calls alongside their regular work, undoubtedly helping hundreds of people who have been facing challenging and confusing situations.

For queries related to the Lateral Flow Tests on campus, or more general advice about COVID-19 if you are unsure who to ask, please contact  covid-hotline@reading.ac.uk. Please also keep an eye on our Staff Portal COVID-19 webpages which are being regularly updated with the latest advice.