A UK Government scheme to support people on low incomes who have to self-isolate will not help those in Wales.

Health secretary Matt Hancock today announced a scheme to help those on low incomes who are self-isolating in areas where there are high numbers of coronavirus cases.

People impacted will be able to claim up to £182 from the Government.

However, the scheme will only support people in affected areas in England.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "This pilot falls far short of the UK-wide scheme we have pressed for, which would better help people to do the right thing and isolate in support of our Test, Trace, Protect scheme.

"We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to fund a payment scheme that is fair to the whole of the UK, as was the case with the Job Retention Scheme."

A pilot version of the scheme will roll out in England on September 1.

People on either Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit, who are required to self-isolate and are unable to work from home, in areas with high incidences of Covid-19, will benefit from a new payment scheme.

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Starting the north west of England, with a trial in Blackburn with Darwen, Pendle and Oldham, eligible people who test positive for the virus will receive £130 for their 10-day period of self-isolation.

Other members of their household, who under the current rules have to self-isolate for 14 days, will be entitled to a payment of £182.

The Department for Health and Social Care added that non-household contacts who are advised to self-isolate through the NHS Test and Trace system will also be entitled to a payment of £13 per day up to a maximum of £182, dependent on the length of their isolation period.

To be eligible, an individual must have tested positive for Covid-19 or received a notification from NHS Test and Trace asking them to self-isolate, have agreed to comply with the self-isolation guidance and provided contact details to the relevant local authority, be employed or self-employed, be unable to work from home and be losing income as a result and be currently receiving Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit.

If the approach is successful, the scheme will be applied in other English areas where coronavirus cases are prevalent, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

But Labour’s shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said “everyone should get the support they need to self-isolate”.

Ms Dodds said: “Effective local lockdowns depend on people self-isolating when they’re supposed to. Labour has been warning for months that the Government needs to make sure that people can afford to do the right thing, but once again ministers have taken far too long to realise there’s a problem.

“Just last week the Chancellor suggested there was no need to change the system for people who have to self-isolate.

“Now the Health Secretary - who confessed that Statutory Sick Pay in the UK isn’t enough to live on - thinks the solution is to offer people who aren’t currently eligible the same limited level of support.

“It’s concerning that this will only apply to a limited number of areas with high rates of Covid-19. The instruction to self-isolate applies to everyone in the country, so everyone should get the support they need to self-isolate.”