Recommendation COVID-M6.3: Financial Support for Care Staff to Self-Isolate

The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should put in place financial support schemes that should be made available and that can be implemented at the start of a future pandemic:

to protect adult social care staff against financial loss as a result of compliance with mandatory self-isolation rules; and
to ensure that adult social care providers and staff can comply with rules or guidance restricting the number of sites at which adult social care staff may work during a pandemic.

The following principles should apply:

There should be clear and straightforward guidance about eligibility criteria, application processes and payment arrangements for the support schemes.
Information about the introduction of support schemes and how adult social care staff and providers can receive support should be communicated clearly and made available in accessible formats.
Mechanisms should be in place to monitor the effectiveness of the support schemes.

These financial support schemes should be designed in partnership with representatives from across the adult social care sector.