Don’t Wreck Your Holiday for a Dodgy Covid Test Provider

The official list is not what it seems — don’t rely on it

Those traveling to and from the UK are subject to varying restrictions regarding covid testing and quarantine. Let me say up front that I’m all in favour of these restrictions and I wish we’d done more to control the spread of the virus. However, our government’s response — patchy in so many respects — has led to some real problems for travellers. Not only have people been stuck in quarantine or been refused permission to board flights because of late results or results that never arrive, but they have also found themselves powerless to get back what can be a considerable sum of money for a lacklustre service.

In terms of the mandatory covid tests, travellers must pick from a list of government accredited providers. Don’t be lulled into a sense of security by the label accredited. In this case, it doesn’t mean what you might expect.

Companies on the list are required to be “going through” stage 3 of UKAS (the United Kingdom Accreditation Service’s accreditation process). They are not fully accredited until they have achieved stage 3.

The Consumers’ Association warns people to:

bear in mind that companies can initially self-declare that they meet the government’s minimum requirements for four weeks before moving onto ‘stage two’.

They further note that at the time their report was published:

only around 60 companies on the government’s list of over 400 providers are fully UKAS accredited.

As well as the accreditation issue, the report notes that neither fair pricing nor the ability to keep up with demand is a requirement for a company to be on the government list. Both these issues have caused significant problems for travellers.

Sadly, those in the UK have other compelling reasons to distrust the credibility of this type of official status. In the early days of the pandemic, many contracts for PPE and vital equipment were awarded to companies with direct links to government ministers but without the experience or means to supply what was needed. This led to cases of the UK paying inflated prices for substandard PPE, hospitals and care homes being left in short supply, and many more people catching covid than need have done. The cost of unnecessary deaths and long-term health issues has yet to be established.

The British Government was taken to court by The Good Law Project over this ‘money for their mates’ procurement process. At a further cost to the hard-pressed tax-payer, and despite compelling evidence, the government fought to have the cases thrown out before they were heard. They did not succeed and the British High Court has already ruled against them on several counts during the course of these lawsuits, agreeing for example, with the Good Law Project’s assertion that:

Money for your mates, on a handshake, formalised later, is unlawful.

Against this background, people are rightly wary of being mandated to go to government official suppliers, especially when they see the inflated prices, experience unreliability, and find they have no right to a refund when results are not delivered.

If you are travelling and need an officially mandated covid PCR test in the UK, don’t rely on a company’s presence on the official list. Check out the Consumers’ Association report which gives a detailed guide to finding an efficient and reliable service.

And have a good journey!