COVID-19 Self-Isolation Support Scheme: an internal review

The purpose of the survey was to capture the experiences and perceptions of people who have received a COVID-19 Self-Isolation Support Payment and to better understand whether and to what extent the payment may have alleviated the anticipated financial impacts of self-isolation.

The conclusions from this small-scale review may be summarised as follows:

• The majority of respondents felt that the payment they received enabled them to self-isolate and prevented them from falling into debt. Just under a third of respondents agreed that they would not have self-isolated without a payment, with one fifth agreeing that they would not have self-isolated if the payment had been less than the amount they received.
• More than a third of respondents stated that the Support Payment helped them to pay their bills during self-isolation.
• When asked whether they had lost money as a result of self-isolation, respondents were equally divided between those who had and had not lost money. More than half of recipients of the £500 payment reported having lost money as a result of self-isolation, compared to just under a quarter of £750 recipients.
• The majority of respondents stated that they did not leave their residence at all during their self-isolation, although it not possible to draw any conclusions about the relationship between receipt of a Self-Isolation Support Payment and compliance with self-isolation rules.
• Over a quarter of respondents gave positive feedback when asked how the Support Scheme could be improved, with 12 per cent stating that no changes were needed. Faster payment and increased payment amount were the most common suggestions for improvement.