Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 03 February 2021
Notwithstanding the Government’s action to widen the entitlement criteria, which was announced yesterday, I welcome today’s debate and agree that the self-isolation support grants should be universal and barrier free. Today’s motion recognises
“that there are many barriers to ... self-isolation, including financial concerns, insecure employment, unsuitable accommodation and caring responsibilities”.
That is what I want to focus on.
For the past three months, I have been consulting on a member’s bill to set up a Scottish employment injuries advisory council. There is a lot to resolve with the now-devolved benefit, but I believe that Covid-19 and its long-term effects should be regarded as an industrial disease when the illness is caught by someone in the workplace. Key workers such as NHS, social care, retail and transport workers all face a higher risk of getting Covid and getting it severely or coming into contact with someone who has it. They cannot work at home and some are lower paid than others.
I will take care workers as an example. On paper, the grant should work for them, but we know that life is not as simple as that. During the member’s bill process, I was told about care workers having faced and continuing to face barriers to self-isolation. The trade unions Unite and GMB told me that many have been wary of getting tested because they fear the loss of income if they have to self-isolate, as they would not get sick pay. They are low paid and many are on universal credit, but they also face stigma if they have been off work. Other workers, including construction workers, face financial and potential employment repercussions from pay lost and possibly jobs lost in an industry with a history of blacklisting. They, too, lose out from self-isolating or speaking up about the workplace not being Covid safe. In addition, if they are not on a means-tested benefit, they are not eligible for the grant.
When the alert call or text message to self-isolate comes, people have to drop everything instantly. It is a devastating irony that those who are most at risk have to do the most to get help. Baked into the entitlement criteria are a multitude of barriers and paperwork requirements to access the support. In what is supposed to be—and is—an emergency situation, before they can get any help, they must locate and submit proof of qualifying benefits and a recent bank statement, and they must get proof that they cannot work from home and that their earned income will fall. Instead of slashing the criteria, the Government has simply changed the thresholds.
Low-paid workers might also have a different experience from that of a professional or a homeworker when they receive that alert. We would all panic about having food in and medication in the cupboard, but many of us are lucky enough not to have to consider whether there is enough cash in the bank to go and get that shop in before the grant is paid or whether there is enough credit on the phone to claim the grant or set up an online account for an online shop with an unfamiliar supermarket.
The pandemic has accelerated the divisions in society and our workforce at a rapid rate. Key workers, furloughed workers and those working at home all have different experiences of being at risk of catching the virus, of having to self-isolate and of that risk being borne by their workplace. For the sake of those who are most likely to lose out by self-isolating, the Government must drastically think harder about how it can remove the barriers to their getting this vital support.
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