LESS than a third of those in Bolton who have applied for a hardship grant as they wished to self-isolate after contracting or being exposed to coronavirus were given the £500 grant.

The low acceptance rate has led to fears that those struggling financially were risking going into work instead of keeping themselves away for an isolation period.

Bolton Labour group leader Cllr Nick Peel said a recent Trade Union Congress (TUC), investigation had revealed out of 2,267 applications from Bolton people for the hardship fund offering one off grants of £500, only 655 people were successful.

The figures for Bolton are in line with the national average of around 30 per cent successful applications.

He claimed the criteria for the grants, which was set by central government before being applied by teams at Bolton Council, were too strict.

Cllr Peel said, “We have faced the problem on Bolton of workers being too scared to self-isolate, as they feared financial problems as a result of doing so

” I wanted to dig deeper into looking at some of the reasons behind this, because we had all been told that a hardship fund was a available to people to help them isolate.

“When I received the figures I was shocked to see that 1,612 people were rejected by Bolton Council because they didn’t fit a criteria that was too strict.

“When you see that only a third of applicants were successful in receiving assistance, is it any wonder that those who were supposed to be isolating were reluctant to do so.

“Many of these 1,600 people have gone into the workplace through financial necessity and this has undoubtedly led to an increase in workplace infections in Bolton.”

According to data released by the TUC, the restrictive criteria for the fund has led to patchy take ups from around the country,

Cllr Peel, added: “I hope that we are through the worst of this pandemic now, but we still have some time to go, and employees and businesses are still going to be struggling.

“The government’s stingy criteria for these isolation grants isn’t an old story that’s now passed; its still very relevant now, and they urgently need to review their criteria.”

A spokesman for Bolton Council confirmed the figures were correct and added that all applications were decided by strict criteria set by government.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said the government was working with councils in England to monitor the scheme, including any impact on groups who were currently ineligible for it.

“The government will be providing further funding for the scheme in the coming months,” he added.