CONCERNS were raised over the competence of outsourcing firms today after it emerged just 1,500 coronavirus contact tracers have been appointed out of the 18,000 promised by the government.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in April that the full number should be recruited by the time the NHS tracing app goes live later this month.

But Cabinet minister Brandon Lewis admitted today that while “about 15,000” applications had been received, only a tenth of those had been hired by the government’s mid-May deadline.

Shadow cabinet office minister Rachel Reeves called the approach “a shambles,” adding that Labour thought it was a “mistake” that the government chose to stop contact tracing in March.

In a letter to her government counterpart Michael Gove, Ms Reeves urged him to say whether there would be enough contact tracers in place to allow Britain to ease its way out of the current Covid-19 lockdown.

She noted that public-health professionals had suggested that 50,000 contact tracers should be hired.

Ms Reeves also questioned the reported hiring of outsourcing company Serco to put in place the manual contact-tracing team.

She referred to the company being investigated last year by the Serious Fraud Office as well as its existing Home Office and Department of Work and Pensions contracts.

Ms Reeves added: “Contact tracing is a skilled role, handling highly sensitive information, the consequences of which are profound both in terms of public health and the economy.

“Yet job advertisements for manual contact-tracing staff are presented as a ‘work from home opportunity’, at an hourly rate of less than the living wage.”

Despite reports that Serco are managing the operation, most of the contact-tracer job adverts online have been placed by recruitment agencies offering £9 to 10 an hour, for working shifts from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.