AIBU to think it's unrealistic to expect people to self isolate with no income?

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

I honestly can't see how the government thinks people who any of the following can possibly afford to self isolate?

• on zero hours contracts and won't get sick pay
• employed by companies that only pay SSP (£95.85pw - I don't know anyone who can survive on that)
• self employed (NB even before COVID, stats showed around half of self employed people earned LESS than minimum wage, and many haven't benefited from any of the COVID related financial support)

You could get phoned up by contact tracing and told to self isolate for a fortnight = no income. This could happen repeatedly. The same happens if you're symptomatic and get a positive test.

No income = can't pay the rent or put food on the table - many of those in the groups listed above were already struggling financially before COVID - often even more so after COVID.

The government is putting people in an impossible situation. AIBU to think that many will have no choice but to continue working even if they should be self isolating - and that the government should be making payments to anyone of working age who is told to self isolate so that they don't have to choose between their 'civic duty' and keeping a roof over their family's head?

@Thesearmsofmine

As it should be. Sad it takes legislation though rather than peopledoing right by others not just themselves.

And what about society doing right by these people who would face financial difficulty through no fault of their own @IceCreamAndCandyfloss
You talk about doing right by others but seem to think it only works one way.
We are talking about this potentially happening repeatedly to people? Should they simply go hungry and risk losing their homes? That’s not really doing right by others is it!

⬆️ this exactly. Many workers have been thoroughly shafted by society not caring, and I'm not sure they owe anyone much.

I'm alright, get full sick pay, so is an easy choice for me.

As it should be. Sad it takes legislation though rather than peopledoing right by others not just themselves.

Pay them then. Don't force them into an impossible situation.

I'm not getting involved with tracking or tracing unless it becomes law.
I suppose there will be a lot tightening belts, stopping work if they can, or just carrying on if they can't afford to stop.
Not a lot anyone can do, really.

Apparently lots avoid the number when it comes up on phones as it looks a bit like a scam number.

I certainly try to avoid answering random calls on my 2 landlines (and I never answer my mobile) as I get at least 2 scam calls from India every day. A posted letter might work better for me.

As people have said above the legal position needs to be made clearer. I believe the original Coronavirus Act 2020 gives almost war time powers to force people to do all kinds of things but the legislation under that such as that on face coverings some but not all people must wear in shops in England are quite specific and limited.

If you have a massive mortgage - mine was £90k a year and don't want to be credit affected (I am afraid it is affecting people's loan position if you take a holiday from the loan despite what the state has said) then who is going to be paying that ? So for me that was £1730 a week mortgage. Child care was about £576 a week. Nothing the state paid dents any of that kind of expense. (And no furlough of course for honest sole traders who did not tax avoid with a limited company and who declared over £50k before tax income and no universal credit if you were stupid enough to have savings whilst 50% of the UK workers are currently being paid by the state). We are certainly not all in this together.