Number of Destitute Households Doubles in the UK

The number of people living in destitution in the UK has doubled to an alarming rate in the last year, exposing the devastating effects of Covid-19. 

More than ever, the pressure is on Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to prolong support schemes in the UK as the number of destitute households rose from 197,400 to 421,500 in 2020. 

For an investigation carried out by Channel 4 Dispatches titled Britain’s £400bn Covid Bill: Who Will Pay?, it was revealed by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research that there were 220,000 more households experiencing destitution.

Destitution is extreme poverty that can be defined either by a two-adult household living on less than £100 a week or a single-adult household on less than £70 per week. 

Research has shown that the major factors which could ultimately increase these figures are the end of the furlough scheme – which, without intervention by the Chancellor, could cease at the end of April – and cuts to universal credits. 

Regional impact

The pandemic has also had a regional economic impact due to places such as the north-west being placed under stricter restrictions. Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “The first national lockdown was lifted too early for the north-west and, as a result, we spent the second half of last year struggling under suffocating restrictions.”

Going forward, Burnham’s plea to the Prime Minister would be to “only lift national restrictions when cases are low everywhere” as opposed to lifting restrictions via regions. He goes on to identify that “the PM needs to plug two major gaps in our national defences” including “a clear commitment to bring in from the cold those so far excluded from public support.”

Director of NIESR Professor Jagjit Chadha goes on to point out that “families who can’t work, who work in the industries most affected by Covid-19 like hospitality, the restaurant trade, industries requiring social proximity, which account for around a tenth of all employment in this country will continue suffering for some time. It’s not just going to end when we’re all vaccinated.” 

If the government deviates from the current roadmap and reverts to lifting restrictions on individual regions, people will continue to suffer. Especially as, Professor Chadha says: “In certain regions, in the north-west, in particular, we might see some 4, 5 or 6 per cent of the population living in destitution.”

Unemployment

The pandemic has also seen figures of unemployment rise to 5.1 per cent. leading up to December 2020. The ONS has found that in this time period from October to December, 1.74 million were unemployed, with further research showing that three-fifths of people unemployed in 2020 were under 25 years old. The last year has been crucial for young people as “Generation Covid” have and continue to be hit the hardest. 

Worryingly, the numbers of those currently living in destitution may go unreported. Louise Casey, Boris Johnson’s former advisor on homelessness, has called for a new Beveridge report. Casey said: “That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. The government can, if it wants to, do something on a different scale now.

“The nation has been torn apart, and there’s no point in being defensive about that. We’ve got to gift each other some proper space to think. We’ve got to work out how not to leave the badly wounded behind.”

Although we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, the decisions made by the government over the next few months will be imperative.

Neve Gordon-Farleigh

Featured image courtesy of Ben Allan via Unsplash. Image license can be found here. This image has in no way been altered.