By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
UPDATED: One in five small business staff are estimated to be self-isolating having been “pinged” by the NHS Covid-19 tracking app.
With an estimated 20 per cent of the small business workforce self-isolating, independent shops, restaurants and bars are having to close for the interim, unable to find staff.
Katie Nicholls, head of UKHospitality, told the Financial Times self-isolating was even worse for a small business in the hospitality sector, with up to one third of staff being forced to stay at home in some cases.
>See also: Pitalia Capital to invest £50m in small businesses
Self-isolating is wreaking havoc with small business owners up and down the country just as the country reopens fully on July 19 — so-called “Freedom Day”.
Indeed, more than half a million people were pinged by the NHS Covid app in England in the week to July 7, the highest figure since its launch.
New workplace guidance tells companies they are legally responsible if employees do not isolate, only exacerbating the problem.
Workers “pinged” by the NHS Covid app are told to self-isolate for 10 days if they have come into contact with an infected person,