Up to £10,000 fine if you refuse to self isolate

[chomalungma]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-54221862

""People in England who are told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace face fines of £1,000 - up to £10,000 for the worst offenders - if they fail to do so. This includes those who test positive and those identified as close contacts of confirmed cases.

It also includes employers who force staff to ignore an order to self-isolate. NHS Test and Trace will make regular contact with those isolating to check compliance/

The measures apply from 28 September and will be enforced by police and local authorities . Those in receipt of benefits or on low income and who cannot work from home may receive a £500 one-off payment if self-isolating""

So :

1. What happens if you need to get some food? Will there be support to help people get food etc if they aren't allowed out

2. This is going to have a impact on the economy. People aren't going to want to go out and do anything which potentially has a risk of making you a close contact with the risk of a fine.

3. It's gong to have an impact on schools - for a similar reason.

4. What happens if you need to get a test? I see that you have to get a test if you are self isolating and then develop symptoms. The testing system is not working at the moment. Will this stop people going to get a test because they are worried about getting a fine?

@Escapedtothecountry

I don't understand. If people are self isolating because they have been in contact with somebody that has tested positive, why would they try and get a test unless they have symptoms?

they dont in reality but i guess you could have no symptoms, otoh, you shouldnt test with no symptoms - simply isolate

This is really worrying me.

DH works in an environment that has been prone to outbreaks and if he has to self isolate then he doesn’t receive sick pay. A one off £500 that you may receive(who knows who is even eligible?) is not going to pay the rent and bills and for food for a family especially if this happens more than once.
We have stuck by the rules, we haven’t been to the pub or out for meals, we haven’t mixed with other households(our area has been on tighter restrictions since July), our dc are already home ed so no school mixing, so actually we are probably doing more than many, yet we will really struggle if he is to self isolate. It makes me wonder why we have bothered to be so careful when we are not going to receive adequate support if needed,

some people dont get sick pay, and ssp is only about £90 per week.

some employers would probably tell them to continue to work regardless

I think the support is open to massive abuse so I hope it will be regulated properly
We know people take the mick if they can

It would be better to have a fine based on a % of income. You can imagine some Hooray Henry types viewing £1000 as a price to pay for a night out - like there used to be stories of people lighting a fag on an aeroplane and handing the cabin crew member a cheque for the fine.

Conversely there'll be some people on low/no income who'll end up paying the fine off for the next 20 years.

There is so much anger and resentment coming as cases ramp up.

If you have a business that is struggling then how will you feel about an essential employee having to self isolate as they have been to the pub?

Same with those going into the workplace. I wouldn't be happy if I were taking all precautions possible as I knew I couldn't afford to be isolating only to have track and trace contact me due to a colleague that goes out every weekend.

You see it time and time again on Mumsnet where posters take issue with any perceived minor rule breaking (even when they don't know the details or the rules). At a time where we should be coming together as communities we will have round 2 of the hate and distrust. The first lock down showed me how bitter and nasty many people are.

Kneejerk reactions. Popularist. Lack of joined up thinking. Is there another contract in there for a mate too?

As pp said people will be less likely to test and to start to get pissed off with colleagues who have been down the pub. People also less likely to use places where you can be tracked and traced. All this is so bad for the economy and for social cohesion.

I wish our government would pause and think a little more deeply about what is happening. Could it be the case as Carl Henegan suggests that an increase in colds and flu in September means an increase in people going for tests means an increase in people testing positive even though many may not be infectious? Can we start to hear how many people who test positive are actually likely to be infectious? The story of the two lads stuck in Italian quarantine as they are still testing positive after 5 weeks.

The government have a pig of a job to do but i feel as if they just dig themselves in deeper and deeper. In any other circumstances you would get a fresh team in who are not tied to previous decisions or who have no political points to score who can consider other options.

@Tomatoesneedtoripen

some people dont get sick pay, and ssp is only about £90 per week.

some employers would probably tell them to continue to work regardless

The biggest fines are going to be targeted at employers who do this.

when my dd was doing a temporary deep cleaning job they were told to distance themselves when in view of other people, that is all

I worry how these things are implemented. I had to fill in a form when I collected takeout at Westfield the other day - I entered the restaurant from the street, was inside for five minutes, and didn’t come into contact with anyone.

If one of the zillions of people who entered Westfield that day tests positive, will it trigger a call to self-isolate?

None of these measures are going to work if they aren't enforced. I've been isolating for two weeks, and obeyed the rules - but no one checked up on me at all.

I've read that criminals aren't put off by the potential length of a prison sentence - only by the likelihood of getting caught. This is the same.

They don't tell you who you have been in contact with.
I guess they don't even tell you when and where it happened either.

Clearly it's the only way to ensure people actually bothers to follow the rules, otherwise what's the actual point?

This is going to have a impact on the economy. People aren't going to want to go out and do anything which potentially has a risk of making you a close contact with the risk of a fine.

so you'd prefer no one bothers isolating? This is ludicrous and exactly the reason why we need fines!

I think we now have an incentive not to be tested and give false details at restaurants and pubs. Once you're tested positive you are essentially under house arrest or face a fine.

The fine is just an incentive to say you filled it out and not actually do it or give false details

Step 1: Threaten the public with fines if they do not self isolate, even if asymptomatic and can't get a test for days

Step 2: Fewer people asking for tests, people giving false info to track n trace etc

Step 3: Rate of 'reported cases' falls. Boris claims victory in tackling the covid mugger and heralds the fantastic track n trace system. All hail Boris

Step 4: 2 weeks later, hospital admissions soar. We're fucked. But its all our fault for being naughty.

The measures apply from 28 September and will be enforced by police and local authorities . Those in receipt of benefits or on low income and who cannot work from home may receive a £500 one-off payment if self-isolating""

It isn't low income OR benefits, it's only those with low incomes who are IN RECEIPT OF benefits.
The rest of us earning less than those on benefits who can't work from home, can starve, not pay our rent, CT and bills and fall further into debt. This feckless bunch think everyone who works for low incomes and doesn't have their hand out are fools and treat us as such.

Which combined with the disinterest by police in mass unmasked gatherings when it suits them, means it's very difficult for me to feel anything but sympathy for those who need to keep working because if they don't work, they don't eat, or pay bills, rent or CT and no one gives a stuff, but still expects them to put everyone else first, just in case they have contracted Covid and therefore might be spreading it.

Yesterday I got casual work near Trafalgar Square. (London) From the morning all the way to a least 4pm it was absolutely rammed shoulder to shoulder continuously by maskless speakers, protesters, audience and curious tourists, most of whom later got on public transport home.
The police probably couldn't have done much about it, but didn't even start trying shutting it down until much later.
Later large numbers of maskless youngsters besieged the bars and food outlets, filling up the pavements having fun and publicly mingling, doing their thing. Needless to say police had other things to be doing than policing government policies.
This is the reality I live and try along with others to quietly survive in, so threatening massive fines on individual ordinary workers including those who have to work to eat, while ignoring all the big stuff just further underlines what a pigs ear they've made of it all, and creates suspicion about their underlying motives.

OK TBF I've just been told police started clearing it a bit after 4pm, but meantime there were literally thousands gathered.