As reported, the UK government could increase fines from £1,000 to £5,000 for breaking Covid self-isolation rules.
Ministers are said to be planning a hike in fine in a bid to improve compliance.
Baroness Dido Harding of Winscombe said the government had told 20,000 people to self-isolate who are still coming into contact with others. The government is considering increasing the fines for the first break of rules with repeated breaking rising to £10,000.
A government source said: “The level of fines in the UK is suggestively lower than anywhere else.
“We are thinking about whether they are sufficient.”
Baroness Harding, the Test and Trace programme head, appeared before MPs on the health and science select committee this week. She said that internal surveys suggested that less than 60 per cent of people told to isolate were fully complying.
Moreover, she pointed to statistics showing that they told 100,000 people a day to quarantine.
She further said: “My biggest worry about people not isolating is not the 20 per cent of people. Let’s say, who were not obeying that orders. It’s the people who feel sick but don’t come forward for testing at all because they’re frightened.”
The government is also considering a surge of charges for people who fail to fill in passenger locator forms on arrival in the UK.
Figures reveal that one in four people who arrive at UK airports are examined. The examination checks if they come from a covid hotspot area.
The recent coronavirus restrictions change came into action as part of stricter measures to crack down on illegal gatherings during the pandemic.
It comes as a group of 25 people could be facing fines of £800 after they breached lockdown rules by attending a party in south London.