To help people overcome the practical challenges of being asked to self-isolate, the Government has announced an extra £12.9 million a month in funding to local councils to help them provide people with more support, going towards access to food, help with caring responsibilities, and support for people’s wellbeing.
On top of this, £3.2 million per month has been allocated to a free medicines delivery service for people who are self-isolating and don’t have access to help in collecting their prescription. Community pharmacies and dispensing doctors are already funded to provide a medicines delivery service in instances where shielding advice is in place, and this system is being replicated to cover people who need to self-isolate.
This investment also comes on top of increased funding of £20 million per month for local authorities to cover the cost of discretionary support payments through the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme (TTSP) for people on lower incomes, or facing financial hardship, who cannot work from home.
The TTSP scheme has also recently been expanded to cover parents or guardians who are unable to work because they are caring for a child who is self-isolating. To date, the Government has provided more than £176 million of funding to local authorities to meet the costs of the scheme.
These announcements will allow local authorities to continue supporting people who are asked to stay at home and self-isolate. As ever, if you have any questions or need my help, please email me at [email protected] or leave me a message on 020 7219 5972.
