This is correct, legally - there is no legal duty to isolate when pinged by the app. There is a legal duty when informed by Test & Trace
https://twitter.com/steven_swinford/status/1417384412635881478
As @TomRHickman pointed out in the thread I retweeted earlier, the government has hopelessly confused law and guidance throughout the past 18 months and is now paying the price - no reason why everything can't be done *in principe* by guidance but (a) the govt has...
... toyed and teased in past 18 months with law and guidance with the implication that something legally mandated is more important, but has never been consistent so public totally confused, and...
(b) if you are going to focus on guidance and personal responsibility then that is hopeless and impossible unless you are crystal clear about what you are guiding the public to do. Just this week we have had PM and Chancellor deciding not to follow *law* to isolate then...
... changing their minds within a couple of hours not for principle reasons but because people were annoyed, now you have utterly inconsistent and confusing signals over what the app pings mean, and meanwhile the public I imagine have no idea that the app ping and Test & Trace...
... notifications have different legal consequences (ping from app = no legal duty to self-isolate, message from Test & Trace = legal duty and potential £1,000 fixed penalty notice), and everyone (including ministers) is using the word "ping" interchangeably even though...
... Test & Trace won't "ping" you through an app (a ping is a notification on a phone) but message or call you. It's a total mess and I can't see how it can be solved now.
Meanwhile, as far as I understand contact tracing is meant to be a way of preventing outbreaks, not mitigating essentially uncontrolled and widespread community transmission. So the whole policy seems redundant
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