Those with the least have suffered the most during the covid-19 pandemic - The BMJ
▻https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/22/those-with-the-least-have-suffered-the-most-during-the-covid-19-pandemic
We already know that people from ethnic minority communities have been disproportionately affected by covid-19 both in terms of infection and mortality. The JRF report also found racial disparities in the pandemic’s economic toll, as ethnic minority individuals were 14% more likely to lose their employment. Compared to white people, they were also more likely to cut back on essential spending such as food, be behind with paying bills, and to have been forced to resort to borrowing money. The report doesn’t just provide information about how poverty has affected people during the pandemic, it also offers four specific recommendations. Firstly, looking ahead, two important forms of state intervention are due to end in April: the furlough scheme and the additional £20 for those in receipt of universal credit. Pressure has been building on the government to extend the £20 addition to universal credit beyond March. Dame Louise Casey, former government adviser on homelessness, described the extra £20 as a “lifeline” to those living in poverty and said ending the payment would be “too punitive a policy right now.” This is also recommended in the JRF report, as is extending the furlough scheme, but these are merely temporary measures; it is the longer term structural aspects of poverty that the JRF are keen to resolve. These include encouraging the government to provide adults with training in skills that would lead to higher paid and more secure employment. Bringing forward the employment bill would also provide additional job security for the lowest paid employees who are on temporary or zero hour contracts.
In addition to recommending improvements to the benefit system, the report calls for a change in how we conceive of our country’s social safety nets. The system needs to be viewed as an essential public service and consequently have the necessary investment to match. Lastly, given the high proportion of income that the poorest people pay on private rent, an increase in social housing should be a priority if we want to reduce individual spend on rent and provide greater security of tenancy. Without these changes, not only will the current unequal impact of covid-19 be felt by the poorest people in society, they will also be the last group to recover once the pandemic abates. Changing this requires all of us to demand an end to poverty. This is not a fantasy; it is achievable in a wealthy Western economy where there is sufficient resource to be shared. It’s a question of will, not possibility.
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