Free covid tests are to be scrapped, sick pay rules are to change and enforced isolation will be removed. The fear is this will discourage workers from isolating when contagious as they won't be able to afford not to go to work. This could have a knock on effect within businesses as people are reluctant to attend the workplace for fear of catching covid or increased staff shortages due to spread of sickness. It also raises a health and safety concern for businesses who may have employees who are vulnerable to covid or who have relatives at home who are vulnerable to covid. 

Many company bosses are under the impression that Boris Johnson's new "living with covid" strategy will bring with it major risks and could potentially do more harm than good.

Although moves are designed to bring us closer to a pre-pandemic situation within the workplace, businesses will be forced to make decisions about their own sickness policies and public health decisions will ultimately fall with them rather than the government. 

From Thursday this week, people in England will no longer have to self isolate if they have covid symptoms or test positive for covid. Free tests will no longer be available from 1st April and self-isolation support payments will end with sick pay rules going back to how they were pre-covid. This will mean that workers will be paid from the fourth day of any absence due to sickness rather than the first day. 

Whilst the new government measures may increase the workforce initially with people no longer stuck at home isolating with covid, the knock on effect may be staff shortages meaning less people in the workplace in the long run.

With people no longer getting support payments, they are more likely to attend the workplace whilst contagious with covid. As many people have bad covid symptoms and even long covid, we could see a huge increase in staff sickness and long term absences. With free tests ending, people will be attending work with covid symptoms and passing on covid without realizing they have it, also increasing the risk of absence. Companies may soon find themselves working with skeleton staff or, for smaller companies, having periods of closure due to staff shortages. This will in turn see a loss of income.

Company bosses are now going to be in the difficult position of having to make decisions regarding people remaining at home during periods of mild covid symptoms in order to safeguard the rest of the workforce and those that may get worse symptoms or long covid. They will be doing this now without the backing of government rules and without financial support packages in place for those that can't work. The concern is that this transitional period of "living with covid" could, for some companies, have disastrous effect.