Scrapping free Covid tests could cost parents and teachers in England £390m a year and leave schools “flying blind” in their efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, Boris Johnson has been warned.
The eye-watering bill was calculated by Liberal Democrats as the likely cost if students, teachers and families continue with twice-weekly tests after charging begins on 1 April.
A family with two school-aged children who stick to the government’s previous advice for controlling Covid in schools would face costs of £633 a year, said the party’s health spokesperson Daisy Cooper.
The warning came after polling for The Independent found that 66 per cent of voters believe lateral flow and PCR tests should continue to be free for all, despite a monthly cost of £2bn to the Treasury.
An overwhelming 86 per cent of those questioned by Savanta ComRes said they would pay no more than £10 for a pack of seven lateral flow tests – despite expectations that a typical box will cost around £15-40.
Boots last week said it would charge £5.99 per test or £17 for a pack of four to be delivered to customers’ homes, or £2.50 for one and £12 for a pack of five in-store.
With as many as 1.25m tests being taken weekly by staff, pupils and close family in English primary schools, Ms Cooper said the total bill could reach £7.5m a week – or £390m a year – if take-up remains at the same level.
And if parents and staff give up on regular tests, schools will be “flying blind” over whether they have infectious people in their classrooms.
“Parents and their children have been trying hard to do the right thing throughout the pandemic by getting tested regularly. The government should not be making that harder.
“Saddling parents with the cost of regular Covid tests is the wrong thing to do when many are already struggling to pay the bills. It also risks leaving our schools flying blind, leading to more Covid infections amongst children and school staff leading to more disruption to our children’s education.
“As the cost of living crisis bites, parents will have to fork out thousands of pounds to test their children for covid to keep vulnerable family members safe.
These eye-watering costs will simply make covid testing too expensive for many. The Government’s decision is completely reckless and irresponsible.”
According to the UK Health Security Agency, more than 560,000 lateral flow tests were taken by primary and secondary school teachers via the NHS test and trace service in the week of 3 to 9 February. Another 470,000 tests were taken by secondary school students in the same week.
The same figures show that more than 215,000 tests were taken by students’ and teachers’ families.
