Skip to main content

Key Workers: Quarantine

Question for Department of Health and Social Care

UIN HL2308, tabled on 22 July 2021

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to change the self-isolation period before 16 August for key workers who have received two COVID-19 vaccines so that they do not have to self-isolate if contacted by Test and Trace; and whether they will list those professions which fall under the key worker category.

Answered on

5 August 2021

To protect the delivery of public services before the self-isolation rules change on 16 August, a very limited number of named critical workers will be informed that they are considered to have a reasonable excuse to leave self-isolation to attend work if they are contacts. This will only apply to workers who are fully vaccinated (defined as someone who is 14 days post-second dose) and is solely for the purpose of going to work. To mitigate the risk of increased transmission, certain conditions must be followed. This is a short-term and highly focused measure intended to apply only in exceptional circumstances with the core purpose of preventing significant harm to public welfare as a result of disruption to critical services.

The list of sectors that are currently eligible for consideration are as follows: Border Control; Clinical Consumable Supplies; Digital Infrastructure; Emergency Services; Energy (including Civil and Nuclear); Essential Chemicals; Essential Defence; Essential Transport; Food Production and Supply; Health and Social Care; Local Government; Medicine; Medical Devices; Waste; Water & Veterinary Medicine.