Maldon district residents who do not qualify for the Government's £500 self-isolation grant may now be able to apply to a new Essex fund, it has been announced.

Essex County Council is providing extra funding to the district to help people who need to self-isolate to stay at home.

Many residents who have to self-isolate may be ineligible for the Government payment. It is these people this new fund aims to help.

Because the new variant of Covid-19 is spreading so fast, it is important that everybody asked to self-isolate does so.

The £3million funding for all areas of the county is to ensure that those that must stay at home are given the financial means to do so. The £500 grant per resident will be a one-off payment to cover the two-week period of self-isolation.

People may not qualify for Government support for a number of reasons, including being on zero hours contracts and in some categories of self-employment, such as where a person has been trading for less than a year or does not have sufficient returns.

Councillor John Spence, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said: "Throughout this pandemic we have emphasised the need to test and self-isolate. Now with the picture of rising rates we see this has never been of greater importance.

"Essex County Council wants to help people to self-isolate without fear that self-isolation will worsen their personal finances. That is why we have secured these funds from the Government."

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The funds for Maldon district can be accessed by residents by making an application through the Maldon District Council website by following the link here.