Again the prime minister clearly does not understand the rules. 2m people in the UK are not entitled to sick pay. In addition the bit about the living wage isn’t true. Full time on minimum wage would earn you about £300 per week.
https://twitter.com/RichardBurgon/status/1418954176311201796
If you are on #UniversalCredit and over 25 you currently get £411.51 per month. That’s not the equivalent of a living wage. Self isolation payments are only available to those already on benefits and as we all know when you apply for UC you have to wait 5 weeks
…for your first payment so it causes real financial hardship for those unable to work due to sickness. Also, SSP is treated as earnings for the purposes of #UniversalCredit so it’s taken off your award.
I find it extraordinary that we are this far into the pandemic and that the government has done almost nothing to help people to afford to self isolate. If you are employed you can’t get a self isolation payment even if you don’t qualify for SSP unless a local council takes
…pity on you. In the north east (according to newsnight last autumn) around 70% of applications for self isolation payments were being turned down. This is seriously hampering people’s ability to do the right thing.
The prime minister should be held to account for these untruths, it’s really unacceptable that he is basically lying to @RichardBurgon and the house.
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