The actual cost of a LFT could be £8 each

[profpoopsnagle]

Whilst the tests are currently free at the point of use, of course they are not free. I saw the cost mentioned on a thread recently, and the poster gave it as £8/test to the taxpayer. I was really shocked, and tried to see if this was true. There has been no clarity published on the cost of individual tests, and the only figures I found were in this Welsh newspaper which is dated July 2021, and of course the prices of LFTs may well have been cheaper since this date, given the amount the UK government has bought. The government has repeatedly not given information on the costs, despite many requests, which makes me think that this figure could well be the truth.

But, given that I have had one child in my class test positive this week, and under the guidance, everyone as a close contact is supposed to test daily for 7 days. That will cost over £1300, just for this class alone. One class. Each time a person tests positive. I am not convinced that the current process and the cost is actually doing anything to proactively stop the spread of covid. £1300 could, and would go a long way towards better ventilation, towards something that isn't a one-use item and that might actually make a difference in combating infections.

Of course, as I have said there is no figure given so it could well be less, but I think still now that the point is, that the money would have been better spent on improving ventilation in schools to prevent illnesses, and not just Covid either.

Wow at £8 per test
My child's gone through periods of having to test every day at school because of high transmission and his school is 1800 kids.

I have paid 8 Euro a test when abroad.

In Italy you can buy them in supermarkets for 3.5euro each (WHEN you can find them, there’s been war over them during the holidays) so I’d be surprised that a government would pay more than double. Same stuff.

£1300 could, and would go a long way towards better ventilation, towards something that isn't a one-use item and that might actually make a difference in combating infections.

Or, god forbid, not on Covid at all but on our many public services that desperately need it...

Imagine if a government had spent a fraction of the huge amount of money that was magicked up for Covid on improving the NHS and on preventative medicine, so we hadn't entered Covid with one of the least healthy populations and one of the lowest numbers of hospital beds per head in Europe. It would have made so much more difference than the billions and billions we've spent to look like something is being done.

Yes, that’s right each test costs £8. Our children and grandchildren of the future will be paying for this for a long time to come. Not to mention the waste created and its environmental impact.

That wasn't a self administered test though.

My mum pays €7 per LFT in Spain

I’m in Ireland and we have had to pay €8 per rest until recently, now they are about €3 but we still have to pay for them all.

They are 5 euros for 5 of them in supermarket in France….

Sorry but that would be a total rip off. (Might buy them there and bring them back)

There is no way that one tests cost is £8/€8 none what so ever. Think of compatibles such as pregnancy tests. Yes you can buy more expensive ones but the basic strips are much cheaper and this is still what companies are selling them at to make a profit not the actual cost of them.

Absolute waste of money. Waste if tax payers money. Waste of personal money when they start charging. Who has covid at the moment? A considerable proportion on the population. We don't need tests to find that out.
I won't be paying £8 a test. I will not need any tests if they start charging

Sorry I k ow the Govt are crap at negotiating contracts I don't believe they pay £8 per unit when you can bilk buy them for a few pounds each.

Know that was

We can buy self administered tests in German supermarkets for around 3€

The antigen / lateral flow tests used in test centers cost 3.70€ per test bought in bulk (that's what companies can buy them for to test employees).

They're free here though at walk in centers - there was a brief phase last autumn where they introduced charging for them but there were a myriad of reasons for being exempt from paying for them and they made them free again after about 6 weeks. Only non residents would have to pay.

I read that the cost of testing in the U.K. is £39 million per day. I will see if I can find the source.

Over the course of the pandemic the cost to the tax payer is enormous.

@Flyonawalk

I read that the cost of testing in the U.K. is £39 million per day. I will see if I can find the source.

Over the course of the pandemic the cost to the tax payer is enormous.

If that's all testing, that's going to include PCRs. The average cost per PCR test is clearly going to be much more than a LFT because for each PCR test there is the cost of processing the test in a lab to get the result. With LFTs, there are no such processing costs.

Relatives pay $7.40 per test in Sydney, Australia.

The cost won't be just the physical test from the pack though but also includes the wages of the staff packing and sending them, warehouse costs in general, the postage/courier costs when they are sent to people's homes or to pharmacies and so on.

My employers were providing them in the early stages and gave us a link to order charging to them - £125 for a box of 25, well known company operating in UK obviously making a profit on them.

Well those complaining, do you want us to just stop testing? I'd happily stop if it wasn't mandatory in my job.

I don't even think they're all that reliable, I'd sooner just go for a PCR

We have paid for them as taxpayers already and they’re an important public health measure.

I suspect there is a ridiculous mark up on these tests and somewhere someone has made a huge profit and laughing all the way to the bank.

@HardbackWriter

£1300 could, and would go a long way towards better ventilation, towards something that isn't a one-use item and that might actually make a difference in combating infections.

Or, god forbid, not on Covid at all but on our many public services that desperately need it...

Imagine if a government had spent a fraction of the huge amount of money that was magicked up for Covid on improving the NHS and on preventative medicine, so we hadn't entered Covid with one of the least healthy populations and one of the lowest numbers of hospital beds per head in Europe. It would have made so much more difference than the billions and billions we've spent to look like something is being done.

Oh I do wish you could like/upvote on here just for this comment!

They're €8/€15 here in Italy but that's at the local health authority offices or at a pharmacy as self-administered tests have no validity so other than personal peace of mind there's no point doing them. I've never seen them on sale anywhere, not in supermarkets or pharmacies. I've never really thought about the cost as have presumed what we pay also covers the processing and admin (any test result is automatically entered into the national system and your Pass app is updated accordingly etc)

Here it costs the equivalent of 12 pounds for one antigen test. Hence why no one does them unless we have symptoms or need to travel. PCR is 42 pounds.

It has been quite mind blowing to me as an outsider as to how much this must be costing the UK government as people seem to be ordering tests and stock piling.

They need to stop providing them for free.