Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reimbursing care sector employers for the cost of employees that have been advised by healthcare professionals to shield for beyond two weeks.

We stated in our social care action plan that where social care workers are unable to work for a long period of time, because they are in a high-risk group, or because they are shielding during the outbreak, employers can furlough these workers, to ensure that they continue to receive 80% of their normal income.

Employers who choose to furlough staff in this way would therefore not need to be reimbursed, as the wages would already be funded through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

We have also provided local authorities with £1.6 billion of additional funding, which includes the cost of backfilling care shifts while as far as possible maintaining income for those that are unable to work as a result of the public health advice and wider social distancing measures. This funding would apply to any employers choosing not to furlough staff.