Coronavirus: are plans to pay all self-isolating Brits £500 ‘dead on arrival’?

Treasury reportedly ‘flummoxed’ by proposal to give one-off payment to everyone who tests positive for Covid

Health Secretary Matt Hancock who is currently self-isolating after testing positive for Covid
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is currently self-isolating after testing positive for Covid
(Image credit: Hannah McKay/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

A newly revealed plan by ministers to pay £500 to everyone in England who tests positive for Covid-19 faces fierce opposition from Treasury officials who have lambasted the “mad idea”, according to government sources.

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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.