A new report by Action for Children highlights how vulnerable families have been hardest hit by the effects of the pandemic, losing work and having to turn to charities for essentials. Nearly two thirds of families supported through Action for Children’s emergency appeal fund needed help with food, clothes and household bills.
-
More news: Thousands more children relying on foodbanks during lockdown, charities warn
-
Blog: Coping with the expected surge in children's service referrals
The charity also describes how the pandemic has tipped a “new wave” of families into “dire straits” overnight, with 71 per cent accessing the appeal not previously having financial issues. A fifth of families had seen at least one adult lose their job or have their pay cut.
It is now warning that a likely resurgence of the virus over the next six months combined with an end to the government’s furlough scheme on 31 October will tip many more families into crisis. Two-thirds of the charity’s key workers on the ground fear families will become worse off over the next six months.
Their concerns are echoed by foodbank charity The Trussell Trust, which has also published a report showing a “huge rise” in the number of people needing its help and is anticipating a 61 per cent rise in demand over the winter, equating to 846,000 extra food parcels, unless the government provides more support for struggling families.
Carol Iddon, deputy chief executive at Action for Children, said: “Six months into this pandemic, families are hanging by a thread as they face one of the bleakest winters of their lives. While parents on low incomes are starting to buckle, a new wave of families who’ve never needed help before are now also struggling to make ends meet.
“Our key workers say child poverty levels are at the worst they can remember and have had to deliver life-changing support to thousands of families desperate to keep their kids clothed and well-fed. With furlough ending and unemployment set to rocket just as we hit the colder months, they’ll be plunged into even deeper crisis.”
Iddon called for the government to put a “protective shield” around struggling families by ensuring in November’s Budget that Universal Credit will not be cut by £20 a week in the spring.
The Trussell Trusts’s report Lockdown, Lifelines and the Long Haul Ahead Lockdown, Lifelines and the Long Haul Ahead shows that families with children are being hit the hardest during the crisis.
The trust warns that with mass unemployment predicted on a scale not seen for 30 years, there will be further rises in poverty with 670,000 additional people classed as destitute by the end of 2020, meaning they cannot afford essentials like housing, energy and food. This is on top of year-on-year rises in the number of people unable to afford food and forced to food banks across the UK.
To avoid the worst of these effects, the charity has called on the government to take the following meaures:
- Lock in the £20 rise to Universal Credit brought in at the start of the pandemic
- Help people hold on to more of their benefits through the economic crisis by suspending benefit debt deductions until a fairer approach can be introduced
- Make local safety nets as strong as possible by investing £250m in local welfare assistance in England
Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “Our research finds that Covid-19 has led to tens of thousands of new people needing to use a food bank for the first time. If we don’t take action now, there will be further catastrophic rises in poverty in the future.
“But it doesn’t have to be like this. The pandemic has exposed the power of what happens when we stand together in the face of adversity. We must harness this power to create the changes needed to prevent many more people being locked into poverty this winter.
“With the furlough scheme set to wind down, we must act now to put in place protection for each other. The Budget and Comprehensive Spending Review present a pivotal opportunity to put things right. We must take it to help us weather the storm left in the wake of Covid-19.”
