Winter information

Winter Information

To help make sure you’re prepared for winter this year, we’ve put some information together about our services and how you can stay healthy and well during the colder months.

Sometimes bad weather disrupts some of our services, so we want to keep you up to date on what is happening on the roads, in schools and with your bin collections. We’ve also got some advice about protecting your home during freezing temperatures, how to support people sleeping rough and keeping yourself healthy and well.

To keep up to date with what’s happening, follow us on Twitter, or sign up below to receive our winter alerts so you get all the latest information via email.

Roads

The Streets Ahead team closely monitor the roads in winter, and keep residents updated on any issues. You can listen to your local radio station for traffic updates, or visit Travel South Yorkshire for public transport updates.

Find out about road issues in winter

Tweets by @@sccstreetsahead

Schools

Sheffield schools will always do their utmost to stay open, however, changes to opening times may occur due to adverse weather.

In the first instance, you should hear from your child’s school via their usual methods if there is a change to normal opening times.

You could also check their website for information.

Some school closures are detailed on our Twitter page and our school closures page.

Find out about school closures in Sheffield

Bins

The Veolia team aim to collect bins as normal. If bad weather coincides with your usual bin collection day, please put your bin out as normal. It may not be collected at the usual time, but it will get collected as soon as possible.

Check for updates from Veolia

Tweets by @recycle4Shef

Council Houses

Every council home has an annual gas safety check to keep people safe from carbon monoxide poisoning. Please keep your appointment or call 0114 2734567 to reschedule. During this visit, we'll also make sure your central heating system and gas fires are working efficiently to keep you warm. Please make sure we can access your home at the appointment time.

In winter, many people dry clothes inside, but blocking up radiators with wet clothes can stop the flow of warm air and create condensation which causes damp. If drying inside, try to use the bathroom or kitchen with the door closed and the window open. Here's more useful advice and information to help keep condensation, damp and mould at bay.

Frozen pipes are a problem in cold weather. You can help prevent it happening by reading these practical hints and tips. Remember not to call our repairs service about frozen pipes – we can’t fix them.

In bad weather it’s likely we can only get to emergency or urgent repairs. Please bear with us when this happens - we have to prioritise jobs and reschedule those we can’t make.

Help for rough sleepers

During times of extremely cold weather we activate our severe weather emergency protocol called ‘Weather Watch’.

Overnight accommodation is offered to anyone, including those with no recourse to public funds or no local connection, who would be sleeping rough during times of extremely cold weather.

If you need to contact us about Weather Watch, phone Housing Solutions on 0114 2736306 between 8.30am – 5pm on weekdays. During evenings and weekends, phone our out of hours Housing Solution service on 0800 7311 689 or Sheffield’s Street Outreach Team on 0800 066 5358 (free from landlines and mobiles).

Anyone accessing ‘Weather Watch’ will be followed up with a next day assessment from Housing Solutions to assist in finding a longer term solution.

Staying well this winter

Cold weather can affect your health, so here are some ideas to help keep you healthy and well this winter…

wrap up warm and heat your home to at least 18°C (65°F)

if you are entitled, make sure you get your flu jab. If you have a health condition like diabetes, heart, kidney, or liver disease, flu can be serious for you. Don't put it off - it's free because you need it.

at the first sign of a cough or cold, get immediate advice from your pharmacist before it gets more serious (and speak to your pharmacist about medicines you can keep in stock over winter).