Andy Burnham responds to Government plans for dedicated contact tracers deployed to local areas

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:

“To get NHS Test and Trace working properly, I called on the Government to make three major changes: first, to provide more data to local councils; second, to provide resources build local contact-tracing teams; and third, to provide financial support for people in low-paid jobs to self-isolate when asked to do so.

“With this announcement from the Government today, two out of the three appear to have been delivered and whilst we await the full detail I very much welcome the fact that they are clearly listening. But they need to go further ahead of the re-opening of schools in September.

“NHS Test and Trace will not work properly until all employees are supported to follow its requests to self-isolate. There is growing evidence that people in the lowest-paid jobs are not cooperating with the system because of the fear of falling into debt. This is why we have today launched the Time Out to Help Out campaign - a call on the Government to give all employees the ability to self-isolate without losing pay. Only by ending the pay penalty will we see the NHS Test and Trace get anywhere close to being the “world-beating” service we were promised. Failure to do so will leave our poorest communities exposed to real risk of harm this winter.”

More details on the NHS Test and Trace plans from the Department of Health and Social Care here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nhs-test-and-trace-service-to-strengthen-regional-contact-tracing

Article Published: 10/08/2020 16:49 PM