Eligible Covid-19 app users should get isolation support payment

Labour will today call on the Government to expand the £500 Test and Trace Support Payment to all eligible users of the NHS Covid-19 app who are told to go into isolation and can’t work from home.

In a letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds calls for urgent action to overhaul the current “broken” system of support for people asked to stay at home to help drive up compliance.

Dodds argues that “isolation is currently the weakest part of the Government’s shambolic test, trace and isolate programme” in light of research by the Department of Health showing that only 11% of people asked to self-isolate by Test and Trace have done so.

To overhaul this flawed system, Dodds is calling on the Government to:

1. Expand eligibility
   By giving every eligible user of the NHS Covid-19 app access to Test and Trace Support and suspending the no recourse to public funds rule for the scheme.
2. Reduce the isolation period
   By boosting testing capacity to cut the isolation period from 14 days to an initial target of 10 days, targeted initially to the health and care workforce and areas where mass testing is in place.
3. Improve communication
   With a proper national and local communications strategy to advertise what support is available for people to self-isolate.

In September, the Government introduced a new £500 Test and Trace Support Payment for people on low incomes who need to self-isolate, cannot work from home, have lost income as a result and are eligible for benefits.

People who are told to self-isolate by the NHS Covid-19 app are not currently eligible for this payment. Neither the app nor the Government website contain any information about how to apply for it.

Anneliese Dodds said:

“The Prime Minister is lucky he can self-isolate from the comfort of his home and carry on working, but for many people that’s not an option.

“He should use his own period of self-isolation to overhaul the broken system of support for those who run the risk of falling into debt by doing the right thing and staying home for two weeks.

“Everyone using the Covid-19 app who is eligible for self-isolation support should get it. And Government must boost testing to cut the isolation period so they can get back to work sooner.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

• On the 20 September the government announced that, from 28 September, those who have been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace would be eligible for a payment of £500 if they are in work, cannot work from home and will lose income as a result of self-isolating, and are currently receiving Universal Credit, Working Tax Credit, income-based Employment Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Housing Benefit and/or Pension Credit.
  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-package-to-support-and-enforce-self-isolation
  
  

• Individuals are usually advised to self-isolate for 10 days when they have symptoms of coronavirus or have tested positive for coronavirus, and for 14 days when they live with someone who has symptoms or has tested positive, are in a support bubble with someone who has symptoms or has tested positive, arrive in the UK from a country with a high coronavirus risk or are told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace or the NHS Covid-19 App.
  https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/when-to-self-isolate-and-what-to-do/
  
  

• Individuals who have been told to self-isolate by the NHS Covid-19 App are not currently eligible for the Test and Trace Support Payment. Government guidance for individuals states ‘If the NHS COVID-19 app notifies you to self-isolate because you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus, but you have not been contacted by NHS Test and Trace by phone, email, letter or text message, you cannot currently apply for the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme. Further work is needed to determine if it will be possible to qualify for this payment, bearing in mind that app users remain anonymous.’
  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme-claiming-financial-support/claiming-financial-support-under-the-test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme
  
  

• Local Authorities administer the Test and Trace Support Payment using funding provided by Central Government. Local Authorities have also been given an additional 5% top-up funding with which to make discretionary payments to those who have been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace and meet the employment and unable to work from home tests, but are not receiving the benefits that confer automatic eligibility. Local authorities are able to introduce additional criteria for discretionary payments but are not allowed to replace these criteria.
  https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Briefing%20and%20Q%26A%20for%20Local%20Authorities%20on%20changes%20to%20Self-Isolation.pdf
  
  

• Guidance to local authorities suggests that local authorities will have their funding to make payments topped up should they run out. However, the funding that has been made available for discretionary payments is a fixed envelope covering the four months from October to January that will not be topped up. This means that local authorities with large numbers of low-income households not receiving or eligible for the required benefits are likely to run out of funds with which to make discretionary payments. The Labour Party have heard from local authorities that expect to run out of funds for discretionary payments in November.
  https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/20200925%20Version%200.2%20ISSUED%20Test%20and%20Trace%20Support%20Payments%20Implementation%20Guide%20for%20Local%20Authorities%20in%20England%20%28002%29.pdf
  
  

• Because of the eligibility criteria, the Resolution Foundation estimate that only 1 in 8 workers will be eligible for the Test and Trace Support Payment.
  https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/wake-me-up-when-november-ends/

• There are other issues with eligibility. The Labour Party have heard from low-income individuals who are not able to claim because their social security benefits are paid to their partner, and so their name is not on the necessary systems. It is also not clear whether households who have No Recourse To Public Funds (NRPF) can receive discretionary payments under the scheme. Some local authorities appear to have added NRPF conditions to the eligibility criteria
• There does not appear to be any centralised monitoring of the scheme. The Department of Health and Social Care has been unable to provide a response to parliamentary questions seeking simple transparency around how many people have received the Test and Trace Support Payment.
  https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-11-03/110817

• Research carried out for the Department of Health found that only 11% of people went into quarantine after being asked to by NHS Test and Trace – despite people's intention to self-isolate being high about 70%.
  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/effective-test-trace-and-isolate-needs-better-communication-and-support