Dunstable mum slams lack of detail on Covid payment schemes which cost her vital earnings

A Dunstable mum has said she is having to chose between paying her bills and eating after being caught out over the changes in Government test and trace support payments.

The scheme changed again this week, but the single mum was caught out by the previous changes last month, when she had to stay at home after her 11-year-old tested positive for Covid. Using the lateral flow tests, she registered the details with the NHS test and trace scheme but did not take her daughter for a PCR test after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was no longer any need,

But when she came to claim for lost earnings under the support payment scheme she was told by Central Bedfordshire Council, who manage the nationwide scheme locally, that she was not eligible because she had not done a PCR test. She says the council also told her that several other claimants had been hit by the conflicting advice.