The Government launched the NHS and Social Care Coronavirus Life Assurance scheme on 20 May 2020. The scheme is non-contributory and pays a £60,000 lump sum where staff who had been recently working where personal care is provided to individuals who have contracted COVID-19 die as a result of the virus.

As of 13 July 2020, the scheme administrator has received 29 claims for social care as a whole in England, of which 25 claims are from the families of staff who had been providing adult social care in a care home. This is out of a total of 57 claims to the scheme. Of these 25, eight have been agreed for payment subject to receiving probate, nine require further information and eight are in the process of consideration.

The Department worked closely with stakeholders in the adult social care sector to ensure the details of the scheme were made as widely available as possible. This included cascading the information to employers through provider representatives, and also through the Care Quality Commission.

The Government has launched a life assurance scheme for frontline National Health Service and social care staff. The scheme is non-contributory and pays a £60,000 lump sum where staff who had been recently working where personal care is provided to individuals who have contracted COVID-19 die as a result of the virus.

Care home staff are eligible, providing that their work requires them to be present in frontline settings where COVID-19 is present, and that they are employed by an organisation registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide social care services.

Furthermore, any social care staff working in non-CQC registered settings are also eligible, if their employer receives public funding.