A few thoughts today after the big splashes across so many papers this morn of a potential universal £500 payment for those who test positive (to try and get the self isolation numbers up). Surely the point isn't whether the PM has seen it, or even if it will end up happening

It's a sign instead of an awareness in Government that the system right now isn't working. We've been reporting on @BBCNewsnight for some months that the lowest paid can't afford to self isolate & lose income. Instead they are making tough decisions & avoiding test & trace

Last week we featured % rejections by councils to applicants for the current £500 scheme (aimed at those on in work benefits) eg Liverpool 77%. This week we revealed rejections to the discretionary scheme that should pick up those people https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55727196

As Alice Wiseman, head of Public Health @gateshead told @BBCRadio4 today: If we want people to test/isolate, we need to 'understand the challenges that people face. I think this is the part of the jigsaw puzzle that's been neglected'. It's what we have been reporting @sallyches

Wiseman cited the self employed who miss out on grants & single parents whose child has to isolate from school. 'They will obviously have to put the need to feed their kids or heat their home above the need to self isolate'. She said demand for food parcels has risen

We have spoken to care staff who say they can't afford to miss work. One working in a care home on Merseyside told @BBCNewsnight she isolated after contact trace, didn't qualify for the £500 & felt betrayed after her work though the pandemic. She said she wouldn't isolate again

Wiseman called the current £500 payment scheme 'very challenging to administer' & said the majority who apply to Gateshead aren't successful. She says the council was told to expect 200-250 applications, Gatehead has seen nearer 3000 & 88% haven't met the criteria

She said the largest reason for rejection is that the applicant can't prove they've been told to isolate. It's what we've been reporting - that in too many cases, they don't have an NHS Test & Trace number or the right paperwork. The bureaucracy may be putting people off.

Wiseman said: 'communities end up thinking we won't bother applying so we won't bother to get testing'. She accepted in a few cases, people really aren't eligible but 'there is absolutely an unmet need out there'.

So - again - for fear of appearing a stuck record - to stop the spread of Covid, we need to crack self isolation esp in deprived communities. What today's leak of the 'options paper' tells us, is that the Gov knows this and is looking at how it can improve the system.

Do I think they will bring in a £500 universal payment for all - no I don't. Good luck getting that through the Treasury. And it likely wouldn't do the job anyway. But the job needs sorting - and soon.