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Mayors of Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester and the TUC launch ‘Time Out to Help Out’ – a new national campaign to pay workers fairly if they are requested to self-isolate.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region, Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, and the General Secretary of the TUC have launched a new national campaign called ‘Time Out to Help Out’ for workers to still get paid when they are requested to self-isolate under the national NHS Test and Trace system. The campaign is also backed by Unison, GMB, Usdaw, Unite and CWU as well as businesses.
Requesting people to self-isolate when they are told they have been in contact with someone with Covid-19 is vital to control the spread of the virus, protect others and save lives. There are a significant number of people who are being requested to self-isolate with more than 22,000 contacts identified in Greater Manchester already.
We also know from Government figures only 79% of those who tested positive could be reached and asked to provide information about their contacts. Of those reached 20% of people contacted through Test and Trace didn’t give any contacts. In combination that means that we don’t have any contacts identified for 37% of those who tested positive, leaving a significant gap in the numbers of people who should be self-isolating.
However, this is because some people lose their pay if they are requested to self-isolate and are unable to work from home, leaving them unable to pay their bills if they do the right thing.
The size of this penalty will vary depending on their specific circumstances and income levels, but can include:
This financial penalty will become even more acute as the furlough scheme is phased out and more people return to work.
Mayors Rotheram and Burnham are calling for employees to still be paid their full normal wage if they are requested to self-isolate and are unable to work from home. Employers should then be able to claim that payment back from the Government. Where the employee is receiving Statutory Sick Pay, the employer should be able to claim back the difference between Statutory Sick Pay and their normal wage from the Government.
Where someone is self-employed and requested to self-isolate and is unable to work from home, they should be able to claim for loss of earnings in the same way as the payments which are made to people who are required to go on Jury Service or under the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme. Under the Jury Service process, people can claim for loss of earnings, up to a maximum daily amount.
Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, said:
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:
Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary said:
Lou Cordwell, Co-Chair of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership said:
Further information on the Time Out to Help Out campaign is here
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