Business chiefs warn ministers not to end free workplace Covid testing
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Business leaders have urged UK ministers not to end a scheme that provides free workplace Covid tests.
Companies have insisted that the tests are crucial to plans to fully reopen the economy later this month, according to the Financial Times (FT).
Firms have been able to claim free testing kits from the government since April, but the scheme is set to end this month.
Testing ‘important weapon’
“It’s an important weapon to stop the new variant circulating in business premises, and it underpins the June unlock date,” Craig Beaumont, chief of external affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses told the FT.
“It makes no sense to withdraw it just at the point we need more confidence in our businesses being Covid-secure.”
Business chiefs say the spread of the Indian Covid variant, which now makes up three-quarters of new cases, has made testing even more vital.
Government urged to clarify plans
Businesses have also expressed concerns over the damage on companies that are still closed if plans to lift all restrictions on 21 June are delayed.
UK ministers are coming under pressure from scientists to delay the full lifting of Covid restrictions later this month as Covid cases have started to rise.
John Foster, director of policy at the CBI, told the FT that asymptomatic testing has been a “key tool” in the fight against Covid and urged the government to “clearly communicate its plans for supporting workplace testing beyond 30 June”.