Ministers are playing with fire if they remove Covid restrictions in England without providing adequate sick pay to help anyone who tests positive for Covid to self-isolate, a leading thinktank has warned. The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) said the current statutory sick pay rate, which is the equivalent of about a quarter of the minimum wage and is not available at all to millions of the lowest paid workers, risks undermining the government’s roadmap out of the pandemic. Instead, the thinktank said it should be made universally available and paid at 80% of workers’ salaries. “Covid isn’t going away – even with the success of the vaccination programme, we need to make sure everyone is financially able to self-isolate if we’re to reopen the economy safely,” said Alan Lockey, the head of the RSA’s future of work programme. “With half of those on zero-hour contracts fearing a third wave would break their finances, the government risks undermining the roadmap if it doesn’t tackle insecurity at the sharp end of the gig economy.” His intervention came after the health secretary, Sajid Javid, announced that, from 16 August, under-18s and people in England who have had two doses of a Covid vaccine will no longer be required to self-isolate following close contact with someone who has tested positive. But those who do have the virus will still be required to isolate. Lockey said that, with more vulnerable people likely to be out and about as a result, it was “more, not less, important that people with Covid-19 symptoms self-isolate”. He added: “Thousands of workers will now face a horrible choice between feeding their families and needing to stay at home to stop the infection spreading. “Without action to provide a fairer level of financial support for self-isolation, the government is playing with fire.” Statutory sick pay is set at £96.35 a week, which is about 27% of the weekly pay of a full-time minimum wage earner aged at least 23 years. And it is not available at all for many workers, including those defined as self-employed and those earning less than £120 a week on average. According to research conducted for the RSA, more than four in every five zero-hours and gig economy workers would be more likely to self-isolate if sick pay were paid at the 80% of their income. The online poll of about 2,000 people conducted by Yonder also suggested that more than half of gig economy workers would feel pressured to work with Covid symptoms, while nearly half of those on zero-hours contracts felt a further Covid wave would push their finances “over the edge”. Workers’ representatives have argued throughout the pandemic that the refusal to make statutory sick pay universally available and paid at a rate people can live on has been behind workplace outbreaks, as people end up with an impossible choice. Speaking to the Guardian in May, the head of the the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Frances O’Grady, called it a national security threat and, responding to Javid’s announcement earlier this week, the shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said policy on sick pay was “vital to infection control”. In April, the TUC called on ministers to consider increasing the rate to the level of the real living wage, warning: “Sick pay is not enough to live on.” The body has stressed that the UK provides a lot less than many other European nations – and to a smaller proportion of its workers. A government spokesman said: “There is a comprehensive package of financial support in place for workers who need to self-isolate to help stop the spread of coronavirus – including a £500 payment for those on the lowest incomes who have been contacted by NHS test and trace. “Many employers pay more than the minimum level of statutory sick pay and employers with up to 250 staff can be reimbursed the cost of up to a fortnight’s statutory sick pay.”