Travellers entering the UK from red list countries who suffer financial hardship will be able to apply for waivers or discounts on the cost of mandatory hotel quarantine, lawyers fighting the policy have revealed. In correspondence seen by the Guardian, UK government lawyers said the Department of Health and Social Care was “currently in the process of refining their scheme to allow persons entering the managed quarantine system to apply for a fee waiver or reduction on the grounds of financial hardship”.
It costs £1,750 for an adult to stay in a room for the required 10 days of quarantine, with additional adults costing £650 and children aged five to 11 £325. Arrivals from red list countries, which include India, Pakistan and Turkey, must pay for the mandatory quarantine and face a fine of up to £10,000 or a 10-year prison sentence if they do not provide accurate details about the countries they have visited. The only provision for significant financial hardship currently available is the chance to apply for a deferred repayment plan when booking, under which the debt is repaid to the government in 12 monthly instalments. The law firm PGMBM applied for permission to judicially review the hotel quarantine policy, which came into effect on 15 February. The government is now applying for an eight-week stay of proceedings in order to implement changes to the policy, including a waiver or cost reduction for those in financial hardship. Taylor Burgess, a PGMBM senior associate, said: “This policy was rushed through parliament and introduced without due thought as to how its one-size-fits-all application would penalise vulnerable citizens and residents. We are very pleased that our challenge has led the government to review the policy, yet it remains frustrating that it has taken legal action for changes to be made. “Many thousands of people have been subject to exorbitant costs over the past several months or been entirely prevented from undertaking essential travel or returning home because of the financial hardship they would face after paying the costs to quarantine. Now the government wants eight weeks to change this flawed policy. Why must this drag on for those individuals and families who are continuing to suffer from the financial strain of meeting costs for quarantine, and unduly affect many more people?” Burgess added: “We have asked the government whether they will be undoing the damage caused by this policy by reviewing previously incurred costs retrospectively. There are people that are still suffering months after leaving quarantine after taking out loans or being forced into debt.” The law firm has instructed the barristers Adam Wagner and Cian Murphy of Doughty Street Chambers to work on the challenge.