Andy Burnham says 'major loophole' about self-isolating employees' wages must be amended

He says people should not face "any financial detriment" from "doing the right thing" as part of the test and trace system.

Speaking at his weekly press conference, Mr Burnham said: "The reality is that there are too many people, not just in communities in Greater Manchester but across the north of England, who are not in a position to follow a request from the test and trace system because they know they won't be paid if they take time off work.

"This is a major loophole, I think, in our response to Covid-19.

"We need everybody to be in a position where they can follow the Government's advice with piece of mind, i.e. they receive pay to isolate.

"We call on the Government to put in place arrangements to enable this to happen.

"People shouldn't face any financial detriment from doing the right thing and following the Government's advice.

"Then, and only then, once we have got those arrangements in place do I think we will see the numbers of people successfully being traced and then self-isolating increasing to the levels we need to see across all of our communities."

Mr Burnham also appealed to the Government to provide more resources, financial or staffing, in helping local councils use patient identifiable data to increase their contact tracing efforts on the ground.

He called for part of the £10 billion allocated to the national test and trace system to be redirected to councils.