Idle workers on Government’s disastrous test & trace scheme given £140,000 bonus
IDLE workers on the Government’s disastrous test and trace scheme have been given bonuses of £140,000, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.
In one astonishing case a tracer revealed he was handed a bonus even though he has only been given five numbers to call in the last five months - and three of those had given the wrong number and two went to voicemail.
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He is one of 400 tracers who have been given the one-off bonus which averages at £350 for length of service and quality of work.
The huge amount of cash has been handed to tracers working for a firm called Intelling that Serco has subcontracted work to. The most handed out is understood to be £500.
It has been slammed as an “absolute disgrace” and a “waste of money” when the system is said to be barely functioning and tracers are left with very little to do.
One tracer who got the bonus said the payments were a “complete joke”.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “I couldn’t believe it when I got my bonus. It’s an absolute disgrace.
“I’m really doing nothing all day. I’m getting paid and now given a bonus for doing nothing. I’m earning £1,4000 a month and now I’ve got this bonus.
“I can’t believe it’s for length of service when it’s not been going for long and for quality of work. I’ve not done any. I really want to help and involved and make calls and be useful. But I’m not being given anything to do. The system is on its knees.
“So many others are in the same position as me. It’s a disgrace really.”
He told how he was given just five calls to make in five months.
Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Taxpayers will be enraged at these generous bonuses.
“With the tax burden at a 50-year high and the public finances in turmoil, the government can’t afford to waste money.
“Bonuses should only be awarded to those who deserve them. Taxpayers don’t want to see their hard-earned cash rewarding poor performance.”
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A spokesman for Serco said: “Intelling are one of a number of sub-contractors we are working with to provide Tier 3 call handlers. This payment to their employees was made at no additional cost to either Serco or PHE.”
Intelling was repeatedly contacted for comment.
A Department of Health spokesman said: “ NHS Test and Trace continues to undertake vital work in tackling coronavirus – and has contacted over 350,000 people who would otherwise be unwittingly spreading the virus. It is for individual businesses to decide how best to pay staff as part of their standard operating model .”
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