Families who lost front-line worker relatives to Covid ‘forced to choose’ between benefits and compensation
Health Secretary Matt Hancock at the opening of the NHS Nightingale Hospital at the ExCel centre in London, in April
FAMILIES who lost loved ones to coronavirus while they were working on the front line of the crisis could be stripped of their benefits after receiving the lump-sum compensation, Labour warned today.
Under the NHS and Social Care Coronavirus Life Assurance Scheme, the £60,000 payment to relatives of workers who die with Covid-19 is being treated as capital in means-tested benefits assessments.
The current limit for savings and capital, excluding the value of the main home, while claiming means-tested benefits is £16,000.
More from this author
