Today I joined MPs who signed a letter addressed to the Health Secretary to make all prescriptions in England free for everyone during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Despite Government action, some people have lost their jobs, been furloughed or had their hours and consequently their pay reduced because of the measures the country needs to take to tackle this pandemic.

Having previously been ineligible for free prescriptions, some people will find that this is the first time they have ever needed that financial relief. After all, they will still need their prescriptions during this time and there is a lot of misunderstanding at large, especially amongst people who are now claiming SSP, that this automatically entitles them to free prescriptions, which of course it does not, and could lead to lots of people then falling foul inadvertently of the penalty charge fine for wrongly thinking they are entitled to free prescriptions.