Extra £100K available for York residents required to self isolate

An additional £100,000 is now available for discretionary payments to York residents who are required to self-isolate by the government’s Test and Track scheme.

This extra funding comes from York’s Public Health Covid Outbreak Management Fund to support the council’s discretionary payment scheme.

It runs alongside the government’s test and trace support payment scheme which makes one-off payments of £500 to eligible residents suffering financial hardship during their 14-day quarantine period.

City of York Council’s first discretionary scheme was funded by the Government but was enough to support only 39 eligible people.

This new discretionary scheme will support up to 200 eligible working people with fixed £500 payments. It will also accept applications from working adults living with parents and from working students where they have been experiencing financial hardship because they have been told to self-isolate for 14 days.

People eligible for the government’s test and trace support payment will have been asked to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace because they have tested positive for coronavirus, or have recently been in close contact with someone who has tested positive

Information on how to apply for a self-isolation support payment – either from the Government or the council’s discretionary scheme – is available here, or call 01904 551550.

Cllr Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Finance and Performance, said: “We know how worried many people are about money at this difficult time.

“This £100,000 for eligible applicants to our discretionary scheme will provide much-needed relief to those worried about not being able to earn due to self-isolation.”