Everyone who tests positive for covid ‘could be paid £500’

The move would form part of an effort to encourage self-isolation and testing It could cost up to £450 million a week if agreed by ministers 
A health worker offers a swab through a car window at a 'drive-through' coronavirus testing facility at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh
PA

Everyone who tests positive for covid in England could be given £500 under plans said to be under consideration by ministers.

The aim of proposals, which would reportedly cost up to £450million a week, would be to encourage more people to take tests and self-isolate.

Such a plan is said to be the “preferred position” of Matt Hancock's Department of Health, according to reports on Thursday night.

The £500 payment would apply irrespective of people’s age, employment status or ability to work from home.

On Friday morning, environment minister George Eustice said no decision on this had been made, but that they’ve “always kept it under review.”

“No decisions to be made on this, but this is a dynamic fast-moving situation with the pandemic,” he said.

This comes after government polling found that only 17 per cent of people with symptoms were coming forward to get a test over fears that a positive result could stop them working.

The £453m a week cost is 12 times the cost of the current system, according to an official policy paper cited in the reports.

The 16-page document is also said to outline plans for police to be given access to health data for the first time, to crack down on quarantine breaches.

The UK recorded another 1,290 deaths on Thursday and 37,892 new positive cases, amid uncertainty over whether the current lockdown will do enough to bring the pandemic under control. 

The DHSC said it would not comment on a leaked paper but did not deny that blanket self-isolation payouts had been mooted.

A Government source suggested it was just one of many options being discussed as part of improving stay-at-home compliance for those who had tested positive.

“We are in one of the toughest moments of this pandemic and it is incumbent on all of us to help protect the NHS by staying at home and following the rules,” said a DHSC spokesman.

“All local authority costs for administering the Test and Trace support payment scheme are covered by the Government, and each authority is empowered to make discretionary payments outside of the scheme.

“£50 million was invested when the scheme launched, and we are providing a further £20 million to help support people on low incomes who need to self-isolate.”

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