Coronavirus: Just one-third of UK workers received financial support after self-isolating
Just one-third of financial support claims have been paid out to workers instructed to self-isolate due to COVID-19, according to new research from The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Only one in three employees (35%) have been paid any financial support after being told to self-isolate by the NHS Test and Trace app.
Some regions have been paying out at significantly higher rates than others. This may lead to low-income employees being subject to a “postcode lottery” on whether they will receive financial support, the CIPD said.
Three-quarters (75%) of support payment requests for self-isolating workers in the London borough of Camden were approved. However, only 23% of claims were paid out in Liverpool and less than a fifth (16%) were paid out in Sandwell, in the West Midlands.
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According to the UK government, “if you’re told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace or the NHS COVID-19 app, you may be entitled to a payment of £500 from your local authority through the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme.”
This is an extra payment to back up the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) that employees in self-isolation are entitled to for every day they are in isolation if they are eligible.
The payments were brought in to support low-income earners and those who would not be eligible for SSP.
However, only a third of workers who also receive benefits (36%) were approved for the support payment, according to the CIPD — only slightly more than the number of discretionary payments made to workers who do not claim benefits, which stands at 31%.
“The government should urgently review its operation with a view to ensuring consistency over the criteria used by councils for granting compensation payments,” said Ben Willmott, head of public policy at CIPD.
“It must ensure that the eligibility criteria isn’t overly strict, ruling out deserving applicants who are trying to do the right thing and self-isolate under the government’s own advice. This is increasingly important with the recent announcement to test key workers who are unable to work from home.
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“The review should also consider how the compensation scheme can be marketed more effectively to those told to self-isolate and, importantly, whether there is enough money allocated to councils to ensure the compensation scheme has sufficient funds for the months ahead given the surge in the pandemic and the latest lockdown.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “To date we have made £50m ($68.4m) available, with an additional £20m to come, to ensure local authorities can make payments to people on low incomes who need to self-isolate. We are working closely with the 314 local authorities to collate information and data on how the scheme is progressing.”
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