Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the accessibility of £500 Test and Trace Support Payment.

The Government keeps all elements of its COVID-19 response under review, including the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme. We have listened to feedback from charities and support groups and are now extending the scheme to summer 2021, increasing the amount of money available to local authorities to make discretionary payments to people not on means-tested benefits to £20 million per month and expanding eligibility for the scheme to cover parents and guardians who need to take time off work to care for a child who is self-isolating. We are working with all 314 district and unitary local authorities in England to implement these changes as soon as possible.