Track and trace app delayed until June after recruitment is frozen

People applying to be contact-tracers as part of the Government’s track and trace app scheme have been told hiring has been frozen due to delays with the app.

Applicants were informed that hiring was paused while ministers considered an alternative app, despite there being more jobs to fill before the programme can be rolled out.

However the agency behind the recruitment drive has said that applicants were given the wrong information.

Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, said yesterday that the track and trace programme – considered the next step towards easing lockdown – had already hired more than 17,000 contract-tracers and would be ready to launch by the end of the month.

The new June target is about two weeks later than the government’s original mid-May target. 

However one company handling the recruitment process, HR Go, told applicants that recruitment had been paused, The Guardian reported.

Applicants were told in an email: ‘Unfortunately earlier today the roles were put on hold. This is due to a delay in the launch of the “Track and Trace” app itself while the government considers an alternative app.

 ‘As and when the app (or an alternative) goes live, we will reconsider those applications already received, however please be aware that we have received an unprecedented number of applications for this role and therefore not all suitable candidates will be able to be put forward.’ But the Department of Health and Social Care said the email was ‘wrong and could cause confusion’. It added that recruitment for both the online and phone-based contact-tracing service was continuing ‘at pace’.

The track and trace scheme will encourage people to use an app to inform the NHS if they develop symptoms and other people they have come in to contact with will receive an alert.

Thousands of contact tracers, many of them working from home, will help with tracking down contacts.

The shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth, said the mistake was another ‘misstep’ in the Government’s handling of the crisis.

‘Test, trace and isolate is fundamental to managing and controlling this virus and safely easing lockdown – yet the Government’s approach has been increasingly chaotic, with misstep after misstep,’ he said.

HR Go confirmed it had sent the emails but said: ‘What has been said is a miscommunication and false.’ A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘The NHS contact-tracing app is not on hold and it would be completely wrong to suggest otherwise.

‘There is no alternative app and the NHS continues to work constructively with many other organisations that are helping to develop and test the NHS Covid-19 app.’

 Millions of elderly Britons without smartphones ‘risk becoming second-class citizens’ because they can’t use NHS coronavirus tracing app, campaigners warn 

Millions of Britons without smartphones risk being treated as second-class citizens because they won’t be able to use an app to limit the spread of coronavirus, campaigners warn. 

Ministers will this week set out the details of how the new contact-tracing app will be deployed nationwide as part of their ‘test, track and trace’ strategy. 

But campaigners representing older people last night urged the Government to take steps to include those without the latest technology. 

Britons will be encouraged to download the NHS app, currently being tested on the Isle of Wight, when it is launched across the country within the next fortnight. 

It uses Bluetooth to detect when a person’s phone has been near another owned by someone reporting symptoms of coronavirus, and sends a notification to the user. 

Those without smartphones will be able to benefit from the army of 18,000 contact tracers who will manually gather information about the places infected people have visited and anyone they have been in contact with. 

But ministers have been asked to look at the possibility of giving those without smartphones simple Bluetooth-enabled bracelets, which other countries including Germany have been developing, so they can benefit from the new technology. 

Figures from Ofcom show that while 80 per cent of adults owned a smartphone in 2018, the figure dropped to 47 per cent of 65 to 74-year-olds, and 26 per cent of over-75s.   

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘Any new technology that may help tackle the outbreak is welcomed by us, but we must ensure that no one is disadvantaged or locked out of services simply because they don’t have a smartphone. 

‘We hope [the Government] will find a way to develop the app so that the millions of people without smartphones can participate too, to avoid them being treated like second-class citizens.’ 

Dame Esther Rantzen, who founded the Silver Line helpline for older people, added: ‘A lot of us now rely on Facetime or Whats­App to stay in touch with friends and family, but many of our callers are not comfortable with mobile phones or the internet and that is a concern.’ 

 Dame Esther agreed that Bluetooth-enabled bracelets could be a solution. 

She said: ‘A lot of older people already do wear a special pendant if they live alone in case they fall or get into some sort of problem, so they can ask for help.’ 

Bob Seely, the Tory MP for the Isle of Wight, said: ‘On the island, about two thirds of people who can download the app have done so, which is a massive figure and absolutely enables us to begin work suppressing the virus here.’ 

He said people without smartphones had been able to benefit from manual contact tracing. 

During the pilot, users have complained that they have been unable to use the app on some new Huawei phones as well as some older smartphones. 

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove yesterday said the Government had recruited 17,200 contact tracers for its test, track and trace programme. 

Mr Gove told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that officials were on course to achieve their target of 18,000 this week, adding that the programme would be running by the end of the month. 

Hours later, it was claimed that the hiring drive had been paused due to problems with the NHS app. 

In an email published by The Guardian, recruitment firm HR Go told contact tracing applicants: ‘Unfortunately earlier today the roles were put on hold. 

This is due to a delay in the launch of the ‘Track and Trace’ app itself while the government considers an alternative app.’ 

A spokesman for the Department of Healthand Social Care said the email was ‘wrong’ and ‘could cause confusion’. 

They stressed that recruitment for both online and phone-based contact-tracing services was continuing ‘at pace’. 

HR Go confirmed it had sent the email but added: ‘What has been said is a miscommunication and false.’