Strict isolation rules for people alerted by the NHS app will be relaxed after strong criticism, Rishi Sunak has suggested.
Hospitality and business leaders have reacted with horror to predictions that millions of contacts of Covid cases will be told to stay at home for 10 days in the weeks to come – as infection rates soar.
The chancellor said he recognised that “most people’s concerns rest with how the app is working” – rather than being contacted by the test and trace system.
“The health secretary is aware that that accounts for the majority of people who need to isolate, I understand, on the numbers,” Mr Sunak said.
“He’s looking at what the most appropriate balanced and proportionate approach to isolation is in these circumstances.”
The controversy – heightened by the decision to keep isolation rules until 16 August, even for fully vaccinated people, as the third Covid wave accelerates – has been widely criticised.
Labour has warned the cocktail will plunge Britain into a summer of “chaos and confusion”, while Tory MPs say the policy will make a mockery of the lifting of restrictions on 19 July.
There have been reports of frustrated people deleting the NHS app, although a government adviser denied any major problems and said usage is at an “all-time high”.
It is believed that the health department is looking at the sensitivity of the app, which might lead to fewer people being alerted as a possible contact of a Covid case.
Anyone pinged is not legally required to isolate – as they are if contacted directly by test and trace, with the information anonymous – although they are told to, but many people are unaware of this.
Mr Sunak’s comments came as he also hinted that a huge increase in the state pension next year could be scrapped because voters will not consider it to be “fair”.
The “triple lock” guarantee is set to push up pensions by 8 per cent – costing taxpayers between £3bn and £4bn – because wages have bounced back sharply from the Covid recession.
The Chancellor twice refused to guarantee that the increase would go ahead on the scale next April, when it as pointed out that Universal Credit payments are about to be cut.
And he said: “I do recognise people’s concerns on this. I think they are completely legitimate and fair concerns to raise.”
The triple lock – introduced by the coalition government in 2010 – ensures pensions rise by whichever is the highest of earnings growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent.
The impact will be felt as earnings grow sharply this year – although workers are no better off in reality, because they dropped when the pandemic struck.
Discover more from Today Headline
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.