Coronavirus Act 2020

Emergency volunteers

8 Emergency volunteering leave

Schedule 7 makes provision for emergency volunteering leave.

9 Compensation for emergency volunteers

(1) The Secretary of State must make arrangements for making payments to emergency volunteers by way of compensation—

(a) for loss of earnings;

(b) for travelling and subsistence.

(2) A person is entitled, in respect of acting as an emergency volunteer, to receive payments by way of compensation in accordance with arrangements made under this section.

(3) But a person is entitled to receive payments by way of compensation for loss of earnings only if, in consequence of acting as an emergency volunteer, the person has suffered a loss of earnings that the person would otherwise not have suffered.

(4) The arrangements made under subsection (1) may include—

(a) conditions that a person must satisfy in order to be entitled to receive payment by way of compensation;

(b) different provision for different cases;

(c) provision about the procedure for making a claim;

(d) provision about how the amount a person is entitled to claim is to be determined;

(e) provision about the manner in which payments are to be made by the Secretary of State;

(f) provision specifying limits on the amount that a person is entitled to claim.

(5) Sums required for the payment of compensation in accordance with this section are to be provided by the Secretary of State out of money provided by Parliament.

(6) The reference in subsection (1)(b) to payments by way of compensation for subsistence includes a reference to vouchers and other benefits which may be used to pay for subsistence, whether or not their use is subject to any limitations.

(7) The Secretary of State must—

(a) publish arrangements made under this section in such manner as the Secretary of State considers appropriate, and

(b) lay before Parliament a statement about arrangements made under this section, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are made.

(8) In this section a person is an “emergency volunteer” if an appropriate authority certifies that the person—

(a) has been approved by the authority as an emergency volunteer in health or social care, and

(b) has acted as an emergency volunteer in health or social care for a period for which emergency volunteering leave could have been taken (whether or not the person is entitled to take, or actually took, emergency volunteering leave).

(9) In this section “appropriate authority”, “emergency volunteering leave” and “health or social care” have the same meaning as in Schedule 7 (see paragraphs 4 and 31 of that Schedule).