LONDON, April 5, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The coronavirus pandemic is increasing
poverty in Britain, where levels are already high after a decade of austerity
triggered by the global financial crisis, according to experts.
Official data shows that more than 14 million people in the UK are classed
as living in poverty, or nearly one-quarter of the population.
Some 4.2 million children are poor, or around 30 percent of the total,
government figures show.
The situation is worsening with Britons losing jobs en masse as the UK
experiences lockdown.
“The risk of poverty is particularly high for workers in sectors like
hospitality and retail where people are more likely to be on low wages and in
insecure work,” said Dave Innes, head of economics at the Joseph Rowntree
Foundation, an organisation for social change.
Over the past fortnight, almost one million adults in the UK have applied
for Universal Credit, the government’s main form of state aid.
That is nearly 10 times the level in an average two-week period.
– ‘Education poverty’ –
“If families who were earning decent wages before the pandemic move on to
the Universal Credit, they will very suddenly find themselves living in
poverty,” said Louisa McGeehan, a director at Child Poverty Action Group UK.
As for families who were already classed as living in poverty prior to the
outbreak — and whose children are stuck at home owing to schools being shut
— the demands of online education add to the problem, she said.
McGeehan noted that “a lot of schools are putting lessons on the Internet
for children to do at home.
“If those children are in households who don’t have Internet or don’t have
a computer, they are not able to do that learning.”
McGeehan told AFP: “We have a nation where a child poverty crisis has been
amplified by the impact of coronavirus.”
But unlike the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis when the government
slashed public spending, COVID-19 has sparked huge state stimulus, including
a boost to Universal Credit.
An adult receiving the benefit who is aged over 25 will receive œ1,000
($1,239, 1,137 euros) extra per year.
However an increase in the monthly amount to œ400 remains far below the
level of œ600 considered sufficient for a single-person household to avoid
“poverty” in the UK.
“Economically we know there is very likely to be a big recession and it’s
difficult to recover quickly from a big recession,” said Innes.
“We know that recessions tend to hit people in poverty — or in risk of
poverty — hardest,” he told AFP.
Meanwhile foodbanks, which help feed the most vulnerable people including
the homeless, are seeing fewer donations amid fallout from the coronavirus.
The Trussell Trust, which has a national network of 1,200 food banks, said
it faced an “unprecedented challenge”.
The government is however still providing children who ordinarily received
free school meals with lunches.
“In my own school, we provide packed lunch that kids can come and pick up,”
said teacher Amanda Martin, who is also president of the National Education
Union.
But she added: “In the short term, there is a real worry that some of these
people that would be in school, that would be warm and safe and being fed,
aren’t.”