All July courses will be delivered via Zoom/MS Teams – new FD1 and FD4 courses added in August

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The Government’s decision on the evening of Monday 14 June to delay the lifting the remaining Covid-19 restrictions (from 21 June) until 19 July 2021 led to discussions on Tuesday with tutors on whether to continue to proceed with in-person courses or switch to Zoom courses (as occurred last year).

Because the current Covid-19 restrictions will remain in place until 19 July, it means that face coverings would need to be worn inside throughout the two days of each course and delegates safely distanced from each other. The tutors concluded this would detract from the value of an in-person course, as it will be more difficult for attendees to hear tutors and vice versa and create barriers to interactive working. With the D variant on the rise, there is also the inherent risk posed to attendees of travelling to the venue by train and of meeting together in a venue, particularly since many of the attendees will have only recently had one vaccination, at best.

Taking all these factors together, we have decided with the tutors that the most sensible option will be to hold all the July courses via Zoom rather than in person.

As the in-person courses include an accommodation and meals element, this means there will be a credit/refund due (as the Zoom-based 1.8-2 day course fee is £560+vat) for those who booked for an in person course.

We still plan to hold the 25-27 August 2021 FD2 and FD3 courses in person in Milton Keynes.

Because of high demand for FD1 and FD4 courses, we have set up additional (Zoom-based) courses. Already many of the places on these new courses have been taken up by those on our waiting list. The new courses are:

FD1 21ZC (Scaddan/Slater) on 23-24 August (£560+vat) – very few places remaining (but several places are now available on the 21/I 14-15 July course)
FD4 21ZD (Mercer) on 12-13 August (£560+vat)
FD4 21ZB (Allsop/Boxall) on 19-20 August (£560+vat)