Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his policy to introduce a compensation scheme for travellers who are forced to quarantine at short notice on their return to the UK as a result of the Omicron variant.

There is no specific policy offering compensation for the cost of quarantine at short notice. If British residents returning to the United Kingdom from a ‘red list’ country (there are currently no countries on the red list) believe they will suffer severe financial hardship as a result of paying the full cost of managed quarantine in advance, they may qualify for hardship arrangements. This includes repayment plans, where the fees are repaid in monthly instalments and in exceptional circumstances, fee reductions and waivers may be granted. All eligibility criteria must be met to qualify for hardship arrangements.