£500 payments if you have to isolate and can’t work is the carrot part of No10’s renewed drive to get people to take quarantine seriously (the stick bit is £1,000 fines). Will this work? Thoughts... https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-package-to-support-and-enforce-self-isolation
It’s a crucial (& belated) part of our Covid strategy being fit for purpose. Not being able to work is a BIG incentive for people to ignore isolating rules (or not get a test). Remember sick pay only totals £96/wk for many workers, and 2m low earners aren’t entitled at all
The good news: £500 is higher than I expected. In contrast the pilot schemes paid out £130 of you tested positive (£182 if your household member did). For lots of low earners they will actually be better off isolating with this payment than working.
The big problem: only those on benefits qualify = only a small minority of workers (mainly lower earners with kids). The vast majority (7 in 8) get nothing. LOTS of low earners aren’t entitled to benefits - including single young people who are the frontline of this 2nd wave.
Lesson from the pilots: there hasn’t been much formal data published on the recent trials (e.g in Blackburn) - but anecdotally there was almost NO take-up. Not surprising given that no-one had heard of them. Bigger cheque should help on this but also need to raise awareness
Good that govt have chosen a simple scheme - councils pay the £500 and it doesn’t get counted in benefits means tests (which would mean over 60% being clawed back). Appears you can also get statutory sick pay as well as this.
Confusing bit 1: as far as I can tell this £500 is meant to be taxed... maybe govt has a cunning plan for every council to notify hmrc of everyone that gets one, but if not it’ll be a nightmare trying to tax it (none of the recipients will be in self-assessment - rightly so)
Confusing bit 2: you qualify if told to isolate by Test & Trace - that means you’ve had a positive test or are a confirmed contact of someone that has. For obvious fraud risk reasons just having symptoms doesn’t get you a payment... but govt guidance says you SHOULD isolate
Summary: this will make a big difference to whether SOME workers are able to isolate. Generosity is fairly high BUT eligibility is limited. 7 out of 8 workers not qualifying is by far the biggest problem with this scheme. Oh - and we should have sorted this out months ago...
So some progress but if we actively want those who cannot work from home to isolate then we’re going to need to go a lot further than this ie have a scheme that many more workers are actually eligible for
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