‘UK must extend insurance plan’

AN ASIAN businessman and life peer urged the government to extend the coronavirus life assurance scheme to all key workers, and specifically the BAME workers, not covered by the current scheme.

Speaking during a House of Lords debate on the impact of Covid-19 on the UK economy, Lord Zameer Choudrey (above) noted the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) individuals.

Lord Choudrey, CEO of wholesale retailer Bestway, highlighted the community is over-represented in sectors that the government has allowed to remain open – such as food retail, healthcare and transport.

“I personally feel that these members of the BAME community are playing an essential role in keeping the country moving and are going above and beyond the call of duty in providing essential services to their local communities in these unprecedented times,” he said last Thursday (4).

Pointing out that not all professions categorised as essential are included in the life assurance scheme, which covers only the staff who are performing vital frontline NHS or social care work, Lord Choudrey said the scheme will be “well received” if the government extended it to cover more key workers.

“The government has already categorised them as essential workers, it necessarily follows that the government must have considered including some, if not all, of these groups in the government’s own life assurance scheme,” he said.

The non-contributory scheme provides a sum of £60,000 in the event of a staff member dying due to Covid-19.

Replying to the debate, treasury minister Lord Theodore Agnew said the government will continue to review the support provided to key workers on the front line in relation to the life assurance scheme.