The Coronavirus Act has been a vital piece of legislation in our national response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Among a range of necessary temporary provisions, the Act has supported the NHS in retaining emergency staff, ensured Statutory Sick Pay has been available to support self-isolation and enabled remote participation in court proceedings.
As we learn to live with COVID-19 in the way we do other respiratory viruses, legal requirements are being replaced with advice and guidance. The remaining non-devolved temporary provisions of the Act will therefore be expired.
Throughout the pandemic, all measures in the Act have been temporary, and proportionate to the threat we face. They have only been used when strictly necessary and have only been in place for as long as deemed necessary to respond to the pandemic effectively. We have seen this in the way that half of the 40 temporary provisions have already expired.
Of the 20 remaining provisions, 16 will expire at midnight on 24 March 2022 and the remaining four will be expired in six months. These four provisions have enabled important innovations in delivering public services, for example audio and video links in court hearings are helping courts reduce their backlogs and coronial services are being supported by allowing inquests where COVID-19 is the suspected cause of death to take place without a jury.
These measures are being made permanent through legislation currently before Parliament and are due to come into force over the spring and summer. It is right that these provisions continue for a further six months to ensure there is no gap in the legislation that enables the delivery of public services.