Border officials have been told they no longer have to do Covid checks on people arriving in England from countries on the government’s amber and green list, according to leaked guidance.
Border Force staff at airports are no longer required to verify whether arrivals from those countries have received a negative Covid test, or have booked themselves a further test in the coming days, according to guidance reported by The Guardian.
The guidance sent to staff on 19 July also reportedly states that border officials do not have to check amber and green country arrivals’ passenger locator forms – used to trace people who may have come into contact with someone with Covid.
The Home Office did not deny guidance had changed for border staff, but pointed out that airlines were still legally required to conduct a series of Covid checks.
Airports have seen huge queues at arrival checkpoints in recent days, and holidaymakers have been warned of waits of up to six hours when returning to England from abroad.
The Immigration Service Union has warned that the “sheer number” of passengers arriving from countries on the recently-expanded amber list, combined with a shortage of border staff, would slow down checks.
One unnamed Border Force officer told The Guardian that the guidance had changed to help reduce the queues. “The only rationale for this change is to speed up queue times when travel is expected to increase.
“At a time when the country is unlocking, this is the time when we should be using every tool available to mitigate the risks, not turn a literal blind eye.”
A government spokesperson told The Independent: “Our utmost priority is protecting the health of the public and our enhanced borders regime is helping reduce the risk of new variants being transmitted.
“All passenger locator forms are still being checked by carriers, as they are legally required to do, and to suggest otherwise is wrong. This legal requirement on carriers is underpinned by a robust compliance regime, which is overseen by regulators.”
The spokesperson added: “Compliance with these rules is essential in order to protect the population from new variants of Covid-19, and so there will be tough fines for those who do not follow the rules.”
It comes as the owner of some of the UK’s busiest airports has lost a High Court bid to force the government to reveal its reasons behind changes in the traffic light system of travel restrictions.
Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports brought the legal action against both the Department for Transport and Department of Health and Social Care – complaining of a “fundamental lack of transparency”.
