Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the scheme for paying £60,000 to families of NHS staff who died in the COVID-19 pandemic will apply to families of care home staff who died in the pandemic.

The Government has launched a life assurance scheme for frontline National Health Service and social care staff. The scheme is non-contributory and pays a £60,000 lump sum where staff who had been recently working where personal care is provided to individuals who have contracted COVID-19 die as a result of the virus.

Care home staff are eligible, providing that their work requires them to be present in frontline settings where COVID-19 is present, and that they are employed by an organisation registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide social care services.

Furthermore, any social care staff working in non-CQC registered settings are also eligible, if their employer receives public funding.