‘I will still ask staff to isolate despite Covid rule change’

For small business owner Cathy Frost, the removal of all coronavirus rules in England from Thursday “seems a bit too quick”.

Ms Frost, who runs a small independent gift and homeware shop, is one of several firms urging her staff to isolate if they test positive for Covid.

She also hopes to continue testing workers twice a week but is worried about the new costs for them, with tests no longer free for most people from 1 April.

“I feel conflicted as, while we’re keen to get back to normality on the High Street, we need to protect ourselves and our customers,” she said.

Ms Frost is not alone. While business groups have broadly welcomed the government’s latest “Living with Covid” plan after almost two years of restrictions, some firms are nervous about the changes.

From today, people with Covid will no longer be legally required to self-isolate but guidance will remain in place for those who test positive to stay at home for at least five days.

Workers will also no longer be required to tell their employer if they need to self-isolate.

Ms Frost will continue to ask her two self-employed workers at her Ipswich-based business to isolate if they test positive, which she said was “the right thing to do”.

“I would not come into work [with Covid] and I would not expect my two members of staff to,” she added.

Given her staff are self-employed and not entitled to statutory sick pay, Ms Frost said she would “make sure they were ok” if they needed to isolate.

Natalie Faulkner, owner of salon Beauty With Inn in Northampton, also wants her five staff to isolate if they test positive, but she said her business would be unable to pay them.

She said she didn’t think her customers would feel safe if a member of staff who had Covid was doing their hair.

The salon lost £4,000 from cancelled appointments due to Omicron cases in December so Ms Faulkner said she is keen to avoid having to “suck up all the costs” from any potential cases arising in the shop.

The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) said the removal of Covid restrictions “should be positive for retail and the High Street in general”, but said “clear messages” for staff were needed.

Scientists have offered different opinions on restrictions being removed. Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, who helped develop the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, has said that “there isn’t a right or wrong answer” to when restrictions change.

Meanwhile, Prof Anthony Costello, professor of global health and sustainable development at UCL, had said there was a worry that “we are telling not only our population, but the world, that there is really nothing to worry about, that it’s all over, when it isn’t”.

However, some business owners feel little trepidation about the change of rules.

Hotelier Sir Rocco Forte, chairman of Rocco Forte Hotels, said if a employee tested positive for Covid he would allow them to come into work if they felt well enough.

“The reality of this is we are saying Covid isn’t a pandemic anymore. It’s an endemic disease like flu it should be treated like flu,” he told the BBC’s World at One.

“You don’t test every worker who falls ill with flu. You tell people to stay at home if they are not feeling well.”

UK Hospitality has estimated restaurants, hotels and pubs have lost £115bn since the start of the pandemic.

Matt Shiells-Jones, a hotel manager in Manchester, said his business was allowing staff to “self-determine” over whether they isolated or not under its sickness policy, which gives staff the option to accumulate time in lieu, used banked overtime, take holiday pay, or get statutory sick pay.

“Sickness is a part of running a business with people and it is ultimately my responsibility to be prepared for that; ultimately if I cant be prepared for this after all this time operating under measures, then I haven’t learnt any lessons or made the changes needed to be a valuable employer post-Covid,” he said.

But it’s not just employers who are grappling with the new Covid conundrum, workers are as well.

Sarah, who works in financial services, is apprehensive over the removal of all restrictions as she takes immunosuppressant medication for multiple sclerosis.

While her boss has allowed her to continue to work from home, she said she is worries of the wider implications for vulnerable people.

Sarah, who has received four jabs, said she felt that she “will now be excluded” from restaurants and other places she used to love.

“It creates a two-tier society of the vulnerable and everyone else,” she added.

The Trades Union Congress, who has said people should not be forced into making a “terrible choice” over going into work with Covid or risking losing income by self-isolating at home.

The union has also raised concerns that lower-paid staff will face the toughest choice, with up to two million workers not qualifying for sick pay due to the amount they earn.