Mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region join TUC to launch 'Time Out to Help Out'

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester and Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region, plus the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), have launched a new national campaign today (Monday 10 August) called ‘Time Out to Help Out’.

The Time Out to Help Out campaign wants all workers to get their normal wage when asked to isolate at home, which employers should be able to claim back from the government.

There are concerns about ‘blatant blue collar discrimination’ as many workers would be unable to work from home if asked to self-isolate. 

Also the campaign is calling for self-employed people who are unable to work from home to be able to claim for loss of earnings in the same way as the payments which are made to people who are required to go on Jury Service.

More than a third of people who have tested positive with Covid-19 have also not given any contacts, leaving significant holes in the national test and trace system.

In Greater Manchester around 22,000 people have already been asked to self-isolate.

Mr Burnham, speaking at the launch of the campaign on Monday, said: “We believe we need to give all employees the ability to agree to a request from the NHS test and trace system, and to self-isolate the minute they get it without any fear they won’t be able to pay their bills, feed their kids or end up in debt.

“If you get a request from the test and trace you are being asked to fulfill a civic duty, you are being to put your own health and the people around you first by taking that time off.

“If we don’t fix this we’re not going to have a test and trace system that properly works.”

The mayor for Greater Manchester warned that the poorest communities, where the virus has been ‘felt most profoundly’, could be left ‘dangerously exposed’ unless changes were made.

Mr Rotheram added that hundreds of thousands of people trapped in poorly paid or insecure employment could be ‘pushed into destitution’ if they lost a fortnight’s pay.

The statutory sick pay currently offered by the government is £95.85 per week, which equates to 21 per cent of the median weekly earnings of workers in Greater Manchester.

 

 

But Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said 90,000 people in the region mainly on – and who are often women – are unable to claim it because their incomes are too low.

“I think there’s blatant blue collar discrimination going on here,” she said.

“It’s all very well for ministers to say people can work from home and self isolate at the same time but the simple truth is most blue collar workers in blue collar jobs can’t.

“I think we need a little less finger wagging about moral duty and instead ministers must recognise working people want to do the right thing.”

Along with the TUC, Time Out to Help Out has received the backing from Unison, GMB, Usdaw, Unite and CWU, as well as businesses.

The Time Out to Help Out campaign is calling for workers to be supported financially if they are requested to self-isolate and are unable to work from home:

• Where the employee is receiving Statutory Sick Pay, the employer should be able to claim back the difference between Statutory Sick Pay and their normal wage from the Government.
   
• Where the employee is not eligible for Statutory Sick Pay, the employer should be able to claim their normal wage from the Government.
   
• Where someone is self-employed and requested to self-isolate and is unable to work from home, they should be able to claim for loss of earnings in the same way as the payments which are made to people who are required to go on Jury Service or under the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme. Under the Jury Service process, people can claim for loss of earnings, up to a maximum daily amount.

A petition has been set up on the Time Out to Help Out web site. campaign is here - www.timeouttohelpout.com

Niall Griffiths, Local Democracy Reporter