The idea of reporting all cases I suppose is so that they get an idea of what % are testing positive. Hence the daily figures give you a % of what tests are positive. It helps them with knowing what is going on. So the instructions on the box ask you to report all results whether positive or negative or even if it is a non result.

I imagine they know very well that lots of people just take the test and don't bother reporting it unless it is positive which I suppose is the main thing.

If positive then of course they want to know so that they can contact anyone you have been in close contact with in the preceding days. Up until this week if testing positive then you were supposed to then book a PCR test.

Once registered on the site for the lateral flow test reporting it is actually a very quick process to report test results. Though it does seem to confuse some folk. One of our club members reckons it took him two and a half hours and that he had to register on several sites. Whereas it took my 5 or 10 minutes to register and it is only one site. I suspect because he is in Scotland he thought he needed to register on the NHS Scotland site too - but the instructions on the site are pretty clear that you only do that if you are an NHS or care worker or visiting a care home. Everyone else is redirected to the same shared UK site.