The legal requirement to self-isolate if you contract Covid is lifting on Thursday as part of the government’s plans for the UK to start “living with Covid”.
Prime minister Boris Johnson and his cabinet have finally signed off plans to lift the remaining Covid restrictions in England – and the end of self-isolation this week will be followed by the end to current Covid sick pay arrangements in March and, most controversially, the end to free testing in April.
Before Monday’s announcement, Johnson said: “Covid will not suddenly disappear, and we need to learn to live with this virus and continue to protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms. We’ve built up strong protections against this virus over the past two years through the vaccine rollouts, tests, new treatments, and the best scientific understanding of what this virus can do.”
But what does this actually mean if you catch Covid? If you are no longer mandated to self-isolate and are encouraged to go about your life as normal, does this mean you should be going back to work even if you get the virus?
Well, it’s not quite as simple as that. The legal mandate to self-isolate is lifting, meaning you don’t have to isolate. However, the onus will shift to business owners and employers to advise their staff to stay at home if they’re sick.
Ministers hope that just as businesses handle absence for regular colds and flus during the year, they will now manage sick leave for Covid.
Before the pandemic, individuals could claim statutory sick pay only after four days and ESA after seven days. But in emergency measures for Covid, people have been entitled to claim it from the first day they were away from work.
Fom March 24, the government will remove those special provisions for statutory sick pay and Employment Support Allowance (ESA).
Johnson stressed the pandemic is not over, and the public should follow public health advice, as with all infectious diseases such as the flu, to minimise the chance of catching Covid and help protect family and friends.
But now that it’s up to employer discretion, bosses can decide if they want to keep paying staff who are self-isolating from day one.
Employers will have the power to make a few decisions. They can ask staff to isolate for the five days, as per the guidance previously in place, and offer sick pay. They can ask members to do daily lateral flows and ask them to start coming in as soon as they start testing negative, even if that’s before day five.
Or they could ask people to come in regardless of the virus.
Unions think this could be catastrophic to employees. Unison, the public service trade union, questions how this will keep people safe. Ending isolation without clear guidance creates big public risk, it says.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea told HuffPost UK: “The government must come clean about how the end to isolation will operate safely. Millions of workers have been left in the dark about what’s best to do.
“If people have Covid they shouldn’t be going in to work, because their colleagues and fellow commuters will be put at risk. Anyone who’s been in contact with the virus should discuss what to do with their manager as employers have a duty to protect all their staff.”
Ministers must give clear, detailed guidance to prevent a “super spreader free-for-all” in workplaces and the health of vulnerable people and colleagues must not be left to individual choice when so much is at stake, Unison says.
They must also reconsider their policy around tests, which could leave testing up to the discretion of employers who are prepared to pay for them for staff.
“If there’s any hope of keeping a lid on infections, the government must continue to provide free tests,” says McAnea. “Above all else, ministers must sort out the woeful sick pay system to ensure no one is penalised for doing the right thing by staying off work.”
The changes could lead to some employers insisting staff work despite virus risks, or face penalties for staying away. Unison worries about what that will mean for professions such as care home staff.
McAnea adds: “A week ago health and care staff faced the sack if they weren’t double jabbed. Soon they’ll have the green light to work, even if they’ve got Covid. This means fresh anxiety for the relatives of anyone in a care home.
“Many care staff with little or no sick pay may feel compelled to go in to work, particularly as the cost-of-living bites. This underlines the need for a proper sick pay system that rewards people properly for doing the right thing.”