Time limit for completing Test and Trace information
8. Our Principles of Good Administration ‘getting it right’ say organisations should follow their own guidance and processes. Our Principle ‘being customer focused’ says organisations should ensure people have clear information about their entitlements and their responsibilities.
9. At that time Mr R tested positive for Covid-19 in November 2021, in an effort to stop the spread of Covid-19 UKHSA’s Test and Trace service’s policy was to try to make three attempts to contact people who had tested positive to gather information about anyone they had been in close contact with during the incubation period. They sent emails and text messages which provided information about the contact-tracing process and how to complete it. The messages also contained a link to information about the Covid Support payment scheme. The link said in order to be eligible for a payment, applicants must have responded to Test and Trace and provided any legally required information, including full contact-tracing information. UKHSA also sent reminder messages when that information was not provided promptly.
10. Test and Trace also attempted to telephone people promptly after they had tested positive in order to get the contact-tracing information as quickly as possible. UKHSA said, while the information they sent by text and email did not include a deadline for providing contact-tracing information, the links to the relevant forms expired when the self-isolation period of 10 days ended. That is because by that point the information was no longer useful due to the incubation periods for the virus.
11. In Mr R’s case, UKHSA sent him the relevant emails and text messages on 11 November 2021, the day after he had tested positive for Covid-19. In line with their process, Test and Trace also telephoned Mr R on 11 and 12 November 2021 to try to obtain the contact-tracing information they needed. We find, in line with their process, UKHSA got it right when they attempted to obtain contact-tracing by text message, email and telephone calls made in the days immediately following Mr R’s positive test.
12. Mr R says, while UKHSA did contact him, they did not provide him with any information about time-limits for providing contact-tracing information. In their response to our enquiries, UKHSA have acknowledged that the emails and text messages did not provide a clear time limit for providing that information. However, the links sent to people testing positive for Covid-19 did stress the importance of receiving that information quickly, to ensure anyone who had been in close contact during the likely infectious period could be advised to isolate. UKHSA say there was also a significant amount of publicity at the time, on TV, online and in the press about the infectious periods for Covid-19 and the need to identify close-contacts of those testing positive quickly to prevent the virus being spread.
13. It would have been good practice for UKHSA to make clear in their emails and text messages that the deadline for providing the required information was the end of the self-isolation period. However, taking into account that UKHSA contacted Mr R by email, text and twice by telephone within 48 hours of him testing positive, along with the amount of information in the public domain about the need to identify close contacts quickly to prevent the spread of the virus, we find, on the balance of probabilities, that there was sufficient information available to know that the contact-tracing information would need to be provided during the period of self-isolation.
UKHSA did not ask if a representative could complete the contact-tracing information
14. Mr R says, when he told Test and Trace he felt too unwell to complete the information by telephone, they should have asked him whether there was anyone who could complete the information on his behalf. UKHSA say it was not uncommon for those testing positive for Covid-19 to be unable to complete the contact-tracing information themselves because they were too unwell and/or had been hospitalised. They said where they were advised of that during telephone calls, they would ask whether there was anyone available who could provide that information on the person’s behalf.
15. UKHSA’s notes of the call show when they first telephoned Mr R on 11 November 2021 he told them he would complete the contact-tracing information online as he felt too unwell to do so by phone. UKHSA said they would call again to confirm the information had been provided. UKHSA say they would not have asked Mr R whether he had a representative during the call on 11 November 2021 as he had said he would complete the contact-tracing information online. That being so, we find no evidence that UKHSA failed to get it right when they did not ask about a representative during that call.
16. When UKHSA called Mr R again on 12 November 2021 Mr R said he remained too unwell. UKHSA’s notes of the call say Mr R disputed the end date for his self-isolation period. They told him the contact-tracing information was needed to calculate the correct isolation period, but Mr R then ended the call. Mr R’s recollection of what was discussed differs slightly from UKHSA’s notes, but he acknowledges he did discuss the self-isolation period and that he did not supply the contact-tracing information during that call. As Mr R terminated the call, UKHSA could not ask him whether he had a representative who could complete it on his behalf. We find no evidence of maladministration here. In any event, in an email sent to UKHSA on 15 September 2022, during the complaints process, Mr R said he did not have anyone who could have acted as a representative for him. Therefore, even if UKHSA had asked Mr R about that, the contact-tracing information would still not have been provided at that time.
Unfairly recorded as non-compliant
17. UKHSA’s policy says people who had tested positive for Covid-19 would be marked as non-compliant if they did not provide all of the legally required contact-tracing information before the end of their self-isolation period. Mr R says during the call on 11 November 2021, while he was too unwell to provide full information, he did give UKHSA information about one person he had been in contact with. UKHSA say they cannot find that information in their call notes, which is likely to be due to the calls ending before they had started asking the contact-tracing questions.
18. Mr R is upset that he was recorded as being non-compliant. He says it was not that he was unwilling to provide the necessary information, rather that he was too unwell to do so at the time. We understand why Mr R feels being recorded as non-compliant is harsh as it does not provide any context for him not providing the information requested. However, the contact-tracing policy required UKHSA to mark someone as non-compliant where they did not receive all of the information. While there may have been valid reasons why Mr R felt unable to provide the information, it is a matter of fact that UKHSA did not receive the information they needed during the period of self-isolation and, in line with their policy, this meant the record was marked as non-compliant. We find UKHSA got it right.
Complaint handling
19. Mr R complains UKHSA’s handling of his complaint was poor. He says he experienced delays and that their responses did not fully address the points he raised. He complains their complaint handling was impacted by poor record keeping.
20. Our UK Central Government Complaint Standards say organisations should provide clear timescales for responding to the complaint. They should also provide fair and open responses and acknowledge any mistakes.
21. In January 2022 Mr R contacted UKHSA as he had been refused a Covid Support payment because he had not provided a reference number from UKHSA confirming he had completed contact tracing information. He offered to provide the contact tracing information in order to get the reference number. UKHSA replied on 12 January 2022 saying due to GDPR and anti-fraud measures they could not provide him with his account reference and again signposted him back to the local authority. UKHSA’s responses did not acknowledge or address Mr R’s key point, which was that he needed them to provide him with a reference number confirming he had complied with contact-tracing.
22. On 22 July 2022 Mr R made a formal complaint to UKHSA. They responded on 6 September 2022 setting out the contact tracing process and the contact they had with Mr R. They said they had not received contact tracing information from him during the relevant period. In his complaint, Mr R said he had tried to provide the information online but had received an error message. UKHSA asked him to provide further information about that, including the dates he tried to access the link and the error message he received. Mr R replied the same day again saying he had tried to provide the information online but did not say when the attempts had been made or provide any further details about the error message he received. UKHSA responded on 13 September 2022 saying they could no longer access call records, as more than six months had passed since the calls to him had been made. They again asked for details about Mr R’s attempts to provide the information online. In November 2022 Mr R provided a screenshot of the error message.
23. There was a delay before UKHSA responded to Mr R in March 2023. They apologised for the delay and said it had been due to the staff member looking at his complaint leaving UKHSA. In their response, UKHSA correctly explained they could not provide the reference number because Mr R had not provided contact tracing information at the relevant time. They also explained the screenshot Mr R provided was not an error message but was the correct message which displayed when someone had tried to access the link after their self-isolation period had ended.
24. Mr R first complained to us in July 2023. At that time, we decided UKHSA could provide more information to Mr R and they agreed to provide a further response. They did so in August 2023. In that response, they accepted they could have provided clearer responses on some occasions, and that there had been some delays. They apologised to Mr R for those failings.
25. We find there were instances when UKHSA’s complaint handling fell short of the standard we would expect. They failed to provide clear details about timeframes, particularly in relation to their delayed response in March 2023. They also did not respond fully to the concerns he raised in January 2022. However, we do not uphold this aspect of the complaint as we consider UKHSA put matters right with their August 2023 response. They provided additional information to Mr R and offered an appropriate apology for their poor complaint handling.