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."

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.