THE government’s paltry self-isolation scheme for low-paid workers was roundly condemned today as a £13-a-day “slap in the face.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that people receiving universal credit or working tax credit who are required to self-isolate and are unable to work from home, in areas with high incidence of Covid-19, will be subject to the scheme.
Starting with a trial in Blackburn with Darwen, Pendle, and Oldham, eligible people who test positive for the virus will receive just £130 for their 10-day period of self-isolation.
Other household members who under the current rules have to self-isolate for 14 days, will be entitled to £182.
The Department of Health and Social Care added that non-household contacts who are advised to self-isolate through the Test and Trace system will also be entitled to £13 per day for a maximum of 14 days.
The payment will not reduce any other benefits that a person may already receive, the department said.
Pendle Borough Council leader Mohammed Iqbal described the sum as a “slap in the face for those people who sadly test positive.”
He added that the amount – a small fraction even of the minimum wage — is “no incentive for those people to self-isolate.”
Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said that the plan “goes nowhere near far enough” and urged the government to pay those self-isolating their full wages.
The TUC said that the “paltry” payment should be “at least as much as the real living wage — £320 a week — so everyone who needs to self-isolate can afford to.”
General secretary Frances O’Grady added: “The sooner government gets on with delivering fair sick pay for everyone, the quicker we will beat this pandemic.
The TUC has also called for the current rate of statutory sick pay (SSP), just under £96 per week, to be increased to £320 and to be available to all workers.
About two million workers do not currently earn enough to qualify for SSP.
Labour shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds criticised the government for having taken “far too long to realise there’s a problem” with people being unable to self-isolate for financial reasons.
“Just last week, the Chancellor [Rishi Sunak] suggested there was no need to change the system for people who have to self-isolate,” she said.
“Now the Health Secretary — who confessed that SSP in the UK isn’t enough to live on — thinks the solution is to offer people who aren’t currently eligible the same limited level of support.
“It’s concerning that this will only apply to a limited number of areas with high rates of Covid-19,” she added. “The instruction to self-isolate applies to everyone in the country, so everyone should get the support they need to self-isolate.”
Karl Handscomb, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, said the government will need to go further than its new payment scheme — which only some four million workers in low-income households would be entitled to – in the case of more severe and widespread lockdowns.
“This is a very partial approach, with seven-in-eight workers not entitled to this help because their households do not receive benefits,” he added.
