Advisers are divided over whether they will pick up the additional costs of tests for staff when the government stops providing free lateral flow tests from this spring.
This afternoon prime minister Boris Johnson announced all Covid restrictions will end in England on 24 February and free mass lateral flow testing will end on 1 April.
He told Parliament the legal requirement to self-isolate for those who test positive would be dropped and the £500 isolation payment for people on low incomes will also end this week.
He also announced that while from 1 April free rapid testing for the general public would end, free tests will remain available to the oldest age groups and those most vulnerable to Covid.
Though Johnson added that government was working with retailers to ensure that everyone who wants to can buy a Covid test.
A week ago advisers told Health & Protection that they plan to maintain isolation rules for Covid-positive staff upon the lifting of all remaining Covid restrictions.
But this week advisers appear divided over their approach to their response to free Covid testing coming to an end.
‘We would look to fund tests’
Alan Knowles, managing director at Cura Financial Services, told Health & Protection currently his staff are required to carry out weekly tests if they are attending the office and must stay away if they report a positive test or are symptomatic.
But Knowles added he would not expect staff to meet the costs of lateral flow tests if free testing ends.
“That’s not what we’re about. So if we decide as a company that we still are going to insist on them, then that would be something we would look to fund – and we wouldn’t expect employees to pay for that,” he said.
And staff do still have the option of working from home, Knowles says.
“I guess the question at that point is that when restrictions are dropped do you then just say be very sensible and be very vigilant? And if you have any cold or any symptoms do you just work from home, which we’re doing at the moment,” he continued.
“That might eventually be where this ends up because people can’t test forever because at some point I imagine we will get to that stage where if you’re not feeling 100%, don’t come in and maybe we all learn to live with it.”
Alan Lakey, owner of CI Expert, told Health & Protection as many of his staff are working remotely, he is not being prescriptive with staff over the approach they take to testing.
“So far we have left it to every individual to deal with as he or she sees fit because we don’t want to be prescriptive in any way,” Lakey said.
“If we had a central office and they were required to turn up there, then I think it would be our obligation to cover the cost of tests, but as they work from home, it’s entirely down to them how they deal with it.”
Andrew Wilkinson, director at Moneysworth, revealed he is yet to take a firm decision on his firm’s future approach.
“We’ve got so few staff in the office that we still have most people working from home,” Wilkinson said.
“There are slight changes to that so we’ve now got advisers coming into the office once a week.
“I’ll have to discuss that with my business partner. I can’t imagine if we felt it necessary to have the tests that we would leave it to members of staff to fund it themselves.”