Protest against Serco's involvement in test, track and trace to take place in Leamington tomorrow

Campaigners are calling for the government to end Serco’s contract and instead use the money allocated to it to fund local public health protection teams to manage test, track and trace.

The protest, which will start at 11am, is taking place alongside over a dozen others in cities across England including Sheffield, Sunderland and Darlington and comes just five days before Serco’s initial contract to manage the system expires.

Speaking on the protest in Leamington, organiser Anna Pollert said: “It is disgraceful that the government is spending over £500 million of our public money on Serco and Sitel, private companies which have proved to fail us all in contact tracing.

"It seems that the government is wilfully ignoring this life-threatening failure, as well as ignoring the evidence from across Europe that locally run and accessible testing and tracing works to suppress this virus.

“In Warwickshire, which is part of the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Beacon programme, a group of retired doctors are trying to support the Director of Public Health to get community (Pillar 2) local testing and tracing going.

"Timely access to individual test data is vital. But across the country, DsPH struggle to get this.

"Public money and data should go straight to them, and to primary care, and not to discredited private companies.”

The protest is taking place in the aftermath of the Government’s announced changes to the system.

Previously, the centralised call centres operated separately from local public health teams. Under the new system, a small number of staff from the central call handling system will work on specific areas alongside local public health officials. This can be followed up by local teams if national callers cannot reach the person.

Campaign group We Own It, which is coordinating the events nationally, has called for the government to not give “a penny more” to Serco.

Speaking in advance of the protests, Pascale Robinson, campaigner with We Own It said: “Serco has already received over £100 million pounds of public money.

"And for what?

"A privatised national test, track and trace system that disregards regional experience and has totally failed. It’s not keeping us safe, so Serco shouldn’t receive a penny more for their failures.

“The evidence is abundantly clear - the privatised national test, track and trace system has catastrophically failed. So it’s right that the government has recognised that a new approach is needed. But a system where national call centre staff managed by a private company make the initial call and local teams can escalate later just isn’t fit for purpose.

"Instead, we need a localised system run by the people who know what they’re doing and can deliver it effectively.

"That means we can’t continue with the farce of Serco heading up the programme.

"Local councils and Public Health England teams must be given the £302 million currently allocated for potential contract extensions with Serco.

"That’s what people across the country are demanding today.”

Serco has faced heavy criticism for its handling of the system.

Its record on reaching contacts in the same household stands at just 52 per cent.

The company has also been rocked by scandals throughout its contract.

In May, the company accidentally shared the contact details of 296 of its tracers, in what would comprise a breach of data protection regulations.

Staff working on the track and trace scheme have also described themselves sitting idle, without contact from their supervisors, with one claiming they worked for 38 hours without making a single phone call, instead spending the time watching Netflix.

It was revealed that Serco had been handed a £1 million fine for its management of accommodation for asylum seekers in Scotland just months before being granted the track and trace contract.

The protest also comes after recent polling found that just 15% of the public want private companies in charge of the system, compared to two thirds who think local public health teams should be.

In recent weeks a number of councils - including Sandwell, Calderdale and Preston have started the process of setting up their own test, track and trace programmes in response to the issues with the national system.

Serco has said: "Serco has played an important part in helping to reach hundreds of thousands of people who might otherwise have passed on the virus.

"Our team of call handlers has been 93 per cent successful in persuading people to isolate where we are able to have conversations.”