Massive increase in self-isolation support payment applications in North Yorkshire
It's as NHS Covid app alerts continue to ping across the county.
Last updated 26th Jul 2021
We can exclusively reveal massive increases in request for self-isolation support payments across North Yorkshire.
City of York Council figures show that from the 1st June 2021 to the 16th June 2021 there were 82 applications, but in the same period in July that rose by 667% to 629 applications.
Harrogate Borough Council figures show a 967% increase in this same period, from 34 in June to 363 in July.
Chris Harrison is the MD of Solita Restaurants, who have a restaurant in York: "It's creating challenge after challenge in an already understaffed industry.
"We're having staff who've come into contact with a Bluetooth notification, and I feel the evidence of it working isn't really there. We've had double jabbed people who've been forced into self-isolation, and these are key members of staff that we require to build our business back that is already on its knees because of the pandemic.
"On average we get as close to 25% of our workforce in isolation, and we're already about 25% understaffed; there's that much opportunity for employment, but those looking for work or coming back to work are having to isolate.
"The difficult thing is that this is affecting those people financially: yes it affects my business and I care about that, but I care about the people who work for us.
"When they're forced into isolation on what is essentially SSP pay it isn't enough - they've had about 18 months on 80% pay, and now when they're coming back to work they can't because they've had a notification.
"Whilst I appreciate a lot that the Government has done for us, what is being overlooked is the question of whether this actually has been 'Freedom Day'.
"Cases are obviously rising and so are deaths, but they're not like they were during the height of the pandemic. Whilst any death is of course not what we want, if this is to be 'Freedom Day' then make it Freedom Day because it doesn't feel like that at the moment.
"We battle on and we've got a great team; many are putting in extra hours to cover those isolating. That 16th August is highly anticipated for businesses like ours, but why wasn't that announced earlier? We should've been seeing that announcement back in April when outdoor dining was allowed.
"We're still battling restrictions of sorts, so hopefully the 16th August can help us to turn a corner on that".
From Monday 16th August anyone who has had both Covid jabs won't need to self-isolate if they receive a notification from the NHS app.