'Rights-respecting' legislation would provide support for everyone, including the most marginalised who are in danger of being left behind
Liberty has published a draft Coronavirus (Rights and Support) Bill designed to counter the 'dangerous' Coronavirus Act 2020 that is due for renewal in the coming weeks.
Drafted in consultation with charities and grassroots campaign groups, the new Bill -
'... rejects the draconian approach the government adopted at the outset of the pandemic, and instead prioritises support and public health, so everyone is protected for the remainder of the pandemic.'
Liberty highlights that the 'rights-respecting' Bill repeals the powers contained in the 2020 Act which put civil liberties at risk, and also establishes measures that provide people with the protections they need in a public health crisis, including, in relation to social welfare law -
- the Bill ensures that everyone is able to access social support in order to meet their basic needs and to safely self-isolate, regardless of their immigration status. Clause 18 provides for the suspension of the No Recourse to Public Funds condition for all migrants, which will enable them to access benefits and housing accommodation support among other services. The Secretary of State may give effect to these provisions by providing funding to local authorities to meet migrant communities’ needs, and by allocating ring fenced funding to specialist organisations such as those providing support to migrant women.
- Clause 21 requires the Secretary of State to provide for adequate accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers, dependants of asylum seekers, failed asylum seekers, dependants of failed asylum seekers, and persons released from immigration detention on immigration bail or otherwise who appear to be destitute or likely to become destitute. The Bill also requires that any provided accommodation must be safe and secure.
- Clauses 36-37, which apply to England, Scotland, and Wales, establish a duty on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to ensure that everyone's right to an adequate standard of living is met, with reference to international human rights standards. This is so that everyone can safely follow public health guidance. The Secretary of State must also ensure that people who are self-isolating are able to access sufficient social welfare entitlements. The Secretary of State may give effect to the above by making regulations to end the universal credit five-week waiting period, making provision for an equivalent uplift to legacy benefits as has been made for universal credit, and taking action to suspend the benefit cap to reflect these changes. Clauses 38-39 impose the same duties on the relevant authority in Northern Ireland.
- Clause 51 and Schedule 5 (5) provide that there should be a ban on all eviction notices for the duration of the pandemic to protect public health. The Secretary of State may give effect to this by further ordering a stay on eviction proceedings. In addition, Schedule 5 (4) provides for a rent waiver for the duration of the crisis, meaning that any arrears accrued as a result of the crisis cannot be expected or included in any future grounds for eviction.
- Clause 49 and Schedule 5 (1) provides that the appropriate national authority must by regulation make provision for the allocation of housing and accommodation support to vulnerable persons, including all homeless people and rough sleepers, people living in overcrowded accommodation, and people at risk of domestic abuse. Schedule 5 (2) provides that migrants with no recourse to public funds will be eligible for housing assistance. The Bill also explicitly designates the coronavirus pandemic as one of the events that will enable local councils to use their emergency powers to accommodate people with no recourse to public funds under the Local Government Act 1972.
- Clause 50 of the bill, which applies to England, Scotland, and Wales, requires the Secretary of State to make regulations that will support all employees and workers required to self-isolate due to coronavirus. The Secretary of State may by regulation guarantee full pay during sickness and self-isolation, and a minimum level of earnings at the living wage, to protect all workers. Clause 51 requires the relevant national authority to do the same in Northern Ireland. Clauses 53-54 of the Bill remove the lower cap for statutory sick pay and expand the definition of ‘employee’ so that a broader range of workers are able to access statutory sick pay in England, Scotland, and Wales. Clauses 55-56 require the relevant authority to do the same in Northern Ireland.
- the Bill repeals Section 15 and Schedule 12 of the Coronavirus Act 2020. These provisions allow local authorities to apply 'easements' under the Care Act 2014, diluting protections for those in need of care during the pandemic. This means that local authorities have reduced the standard of care they provide for people who are disproportionately impacted by the virus, such as disabled and older people, at a time when informal social support has been restricted by the need for social distancing. Assessments of care and support needs have also been paused or significantly delayed and local authorities have been disincentivised from taking steps to ensure people get the critical care they need.
- the Bill repeals Section 81 and Schedule 29 of the Coronavirus Act 2020, which extends notice periods a landlord must give to a tenant in relation to possession proceedings in respect of certain residential tenancies. The clauses in Chapter 7and Schedule 5 provide improved safeguards for tenants.
With MPs having passed the Coronavirus Act on 25 March 2020 in the face of the pandemic and the significant risk to life, and having renewed the Act in September 2020 'with no alternative', Liberty says that it could be renewed again on it being debated and voted on in March 2021 despite the justification for its 'blunt, rushed, and exceptional powers' being increasingly hard to reconcile a year on.
Liberty’s Director Gracie Bradley said -
'A pandemic response that fails some of us, fails all of us. The pandemic has shown how much we rely on each other – yet politicians in charge responded to this pandemic with a strategy that created distrust and favoured punishing people instead of providing support. Those in power have failed to understand that to get through coronavirus, we need to pull together and create strategies that protect everyone. A year into this crisis, we’re tired of waiting for alternatives, so we’ve come up with one ourselves.
... If Ministers vote through this failed approach again, they are doing so knowing more of the most marginalised people will be left behind, and everyone’s freedoms will be on the line, due to people in power refusing to learn from their mistakes. We demand a better way forward – one that provides support for everyone and upholds our rights and freedoms.'
For more information, see Liberty launches rights-respecting COVID Bill.
