BORIS Johnson’s administration suppressed access to sick pay through the furlough scheme for people who were self-isolating at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been revealed.
The ploy by Tory ministers has been described as “absolute madness” and blamed for spreading Covid-19 and risking lives.
Emails leaked to Politico’s London Playbook show that in January and February of this year, the UK Treasury instructed senior government officials to conceal from the public how a little-known part of the furlough scheme could be used to access isolation sick pay.
No 10 has refused to deny the report.
The SNP’s health spokesperson, Dr Philippa Whitford MP, said: “I didn’t think this Tory government could stoop any lower but I have just been proven wrong. To restrict access to much-needed cash for people isolating – a vital step in suppressing the virus and a step advised by the UK government itself – is absolute madness as it will have increased the spread of the virus and endangered lives.
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“Surveys have demonstrated the significant number of people, who have tested positive for Covid, who have not fully isolated due to financial pressures because the UK Government’s statutory sick pay is woefully inadequate.
“We now learn that the Tories exacerbated this – not just by failing to heed our calls to improve sick pay – but by suppressing access to it altogether. That is not leadership – it is recklessness and Scotland deserves better than this. The Tory government has spent months forcing workers into hardship in the middle of the biggest public health and economic crisis we have ever seen.”
She urged Tory ministers to apologise and raise Statutory Sick Pay in line with the Real Living Wage, making it available for 52 weeks instead of 28, and making it available to everyone regardless of earnings, working hours or contract.
The SNP MP added: “It is clear that Scotland is vulnerable under Westminster control and the only way to keep Scotland safe from Tory attacks on employment rights is to become an independent country, with the full powers to build a strong, fair and equal recovery."
Asked about the Politico report, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson commented: "The guidance on Gov.uk sets out that the furlough scheme is not intended for short-term absences from work due to sickness and self-isolation should not be a consideration when a business is deciding if a business should furlough an employee."
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