The Guardian reports that contract tracers hired to work on England’s test-and-trace system report that they are making only a handful of calls every month and are occupying their time with barbecues and quizzes.
Agents told the Guardian they were often calling people who had already been spoken to by another contact tracer, and making calls to numbers that did not exist or that went straight through to voicemail.
The national test-and-trace system was launched in May and is seen as vital to easing England out of lockdown. However, three months on there is growing frustration. The national system is run by the former TalkTalk executive Dido Harding, it involves more than 20,000 contact tracers, paid around £10 an hour, employed by private firms such as Serco.
Full story in the Guardian, 5 August 2020
