Businesses warn against end of free Covid tests

The prime minister's 'Living with Covid' plan must not put the cost and responsibility of testing on employers, business groups have warned.

Boris Johnson set out plans to end nearly all Covid rules in England in the House of Commons on Monday.

Free tests and self-isolation rules will end, as well as self-isolation payments for those on low incomes.

The British Chambers of Commerce said the government "must not pass on public health decisions on to businesses".

"Access to free testing is key to managing workplace sickness and maintaining consumer confidence," its co-executive director, Claire Walker, said.

"If the government is to remove this, companies must still be able to access tests on a cost-effective basis," she added.

Matthew Fell, a policy director at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) also said that free testing benefits businesses.

"While free testing cannot continue forever, there is a balance to be struck between confidence building and cost-cutting.

"Mass lateral flow testing has kept our economy open and firms continue to believe the economic benefits far outweigh the costs."

However, Dan Shears, national health and safety director for the GMB Union, criticised the prime minister's announcement as "nonsensical".

"Asking people to exercise responsibility whilst taking away a key workplace provision for them to do that just shows how incompetent this government is.

"The UK's poverty statutory sick pay (SSP) rates, among the lowest in Europe, are a public health hazard as workers cannot afford to stay home when they are ill," Mr Shears added.

Unions argue that around two million workers in England do not currently qualify for SSP.

Kitty Ussher, chief economist at the Institute of Directors said many business leaders will see Johnson's announcement as a sign that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, but will still want to try and keep staff and customers safe.

"It is up to individual businesses to determine their own arrangements in the way that works for them. In this regard, keeping lateral flow tests free until 1 April, and longer for vulnerable groups, will be welcome," she said.

Jen Wiggins, co-founder of The Spirit of Manchester gin distillery and cocktail bar, has overcome numerous difficulties Covid has presented in the last couple of years.

"We, the [hospitality] sector, have had a really tough 24 months, it's been quite bruising."

She was forced to furlough staff due to restrictions and footfall being decimated, as well as take out a government-backed coronavirus business interruption loan.

Although she's feeling positive about the post-Covid recovery, Jen does not believe the changes announced on Monday will be a "game-changer" for her business.

"I don't see this suddenly bringing an influx of people back to city centres," she says.

Trade on Fridays, for example, is still 25% down on pre-pandemic levels, but Saturday and Sunday is fully booked.

What would make the difference? Time.

"I'd like to think over the coming years we do start to see offices and business getting everyone back into their workplaces."

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said that the end of the legal requirement to self-isolate "may further speed the return to a more normal experience for customers, employees and businesses".

She added that shoppers have a personal responsibility to avoid retail settings if they are showing Covid symptoms.

The travel industry also welcomed the confirmation from the prime minister that hotel quarantine will end from 1 April and said it will help give people more certainty when booking flights.

"All Covid-related restrictions on international travel should now be reviewed, with the aim of tackling barriers to recovery of the sector," a spokesperson for Abta, the travel association said, and suggested the passenger locator form for UK arrivals should be scrapped.

The prime minister suggested on Monday that the use of the forms would be reviewed by Easter.