Victims of virus will be paid to quarantine
Lockdown payments intended to ensure sufferers and any contacts self-isolate
CORONAVIRUS sufferers and their contacts will be paid to quarantine themselves amid signs that increasing numbers are refusing to self-isolate because of financial worries.
People on low incomes who test positive for Covid-19 will be paid £132 for their 10-day isolation period, while those who have come into contact with them will receive £182 for 14 days of isolation.
The scheme will, for now, only apply to people living in areas with local lockdown restrictions and will be tested out in the North West before an expected roll-out to other high-risk areas.
The announcement comes ahead of today’s meeting to decide whether more areas will be put into lockdown.
The new self-isolation payments, which come into effect from Sept 1, follow evidence that some people are refusing to isolate if they will be left out of pocket by doing so. Others are failing to get a test or avoiding the test and trace system for the same reason.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, believes it is one reason why test and trace has failed to reach the 80 per cent of contacts who need to self-isolate for the scheme to be effective.
One senior government source said: “Public health teams working in local lockdown areas have been reporting a lot of cases of people refusing to selfisolate, and the reason tends to be about loss of income.
“The Prime Minister said earlier this year that no one should face hardship for doing the right thing and this is the latest part of that process.”
The scheme will be piloted in Blackburn with Darwen, Pendle and in Oldham, all of which are subject to local restrictions, before it is extended to other high-infection areas if it proves to be successful.
To qualify for the money, people must be in work and in receipt of either Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit. They will be required to provide bank statements and a notification from NHS test and trace before getting the payments.
There will be no limit on how many people from the same family can claim the payments at the same time, as long as all are in work and eligible for the scheme. It means a couple who both work will receive £314 over the course of a fortnight if one of them tests positive and the other has to isolate as a result. The money will be on top of their usual in-work benefit payments.
Local authorities will police the system through welfare checks, phone calls and checks with employers.
Mr Hancock said: “This new payment scheme will help people on low incomes and, who are unable to work from home, to continue playing their part in the national fight against this virus.”
Although deaths from coronavirus are falling, there has been a recent rise in the number of positive tests, while the R rate, which measures the rate of the virus’s spread, has increased over the course of August.
Local restrictions remain in place in Greater Manchester, parts of Lancashire, Leicester, Luton and Northampton. Government sources suggested the lockdown was unlikely to be extended to Birmingham when ministers and health officials meet today, as the infection rate has started to drop there since the start of this week.
MINISTERS decided to bring in payments for people self-isolating after the NHS test and trace system consistently failed to hit its target.
Just over 70 per cent of people who have come into contact with an infected person are being reached, well short of the 80 per cent needed for the system to be effective. A rise in the number of confirmed infections has also led to concerns within Government, as it cannot be explained away by increased testing.
Meanwhile, the “R” rate, the measure of the virus’s spread, has risen from between 0.8 and 0.9 three weeks ago to between 0.9 and 1.1 at the end of last week, suggesting the rate of infection is climbing in some areas.
One reason for the worrying statistics, ministers suspect, is that people are dodging the NHS test and trace system because of financial fears.
Self-employed people on low salaries face having no income for a fortnight if they have to self-isolate, which may make them reluctant to get a test if they have Covid symptoms. They might also be tempted to ignore instructions to quarantine themselves, or avoid answering the phone if they think it is a contact tracer calling.
Ever since test and trace was launched on May 28, critics have warned that some people would be reluctant to hand over their contacts if they thought they were going to cause someone financial hardship.
A Government source said: “The concern is that people might not want to get tested or tell their contacts they have coronavirus if they are worried about money.”
In the second week of August (the latest for which data are available) 78.8 per cent of the 4,803 people transferred to the contact-tracing system after testing positive for the virus were reached and asked to provide details of their contacts.
But just 71.3 per cent of the 16,897 contacts they provided were reached and asked to self-isolate, compared with 74.2 per cent the previous week and well down on the average of 81 per cent since the scheme began.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has told the Government that 80 per cent of people who come into contact with someone who has the virus need to self-isolate for the system to be effective.
Ministers have previously suggested that people are screening their phone calls to avoid speaking to NHS contact tracers, particularly if they fear losing pay. They now hope that with a safety net in place, more people will be prepared to self-isolate.
Between Aug 6 and Aug 12, 6,616 people tested positive in England, a rise of 27 per cent compared with the previous week. This was despite a 2 per cent fall in the number of people tested.
Meanwhile, there was an increase of 34 per cent in positive cases among people in healthcare settings, which the Government said was “the first week there has been a notable increase in positive cases [in hospitals] since test and trace launched”.