Much of the studies and reports undertaken at the moment have surrounded the impact that the pandemic has had on increasingy poverty levels since the start of lockdown.. However, the Joseph Roundtree Foundation’s annual report has highlighted that actually many members of our communities were already at high risk of poverty. The pandemic has exacerbated these poverty risks and have “hit the hardest” those already struggling.

Their report shines light on the changing nature of poverty since the pandemic took hold and includes insights from the Povert Action Group.

Their main recommendations include:

• “We need as many people as possible to be in good jobs. Unemployment is expected to rise in the coming months, and we need to see further bold action to retrain workers and create good quality new jobs.

• We need to improve earnings for low-income working families and ensure more people are in secure, good quality work. Government must support people in the lowest-paid jobs, or people working part-time, to move into higher pay and access sufficient and secure working hours, including bringing forward the Employment Bill.

• We need to strengthen the benefits system. At a minimum, we need the temporary £20 per week increase to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit to be made permanent, extending this same lifeline to people on legacy benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.

• We need to increase the amount of low-cost housing available for families on low incomes and increase support for households who have high housing costs.”

These recommendations should be taken into account during the upcoming local elections. We need politcians to listen to reports such as this and implement socio-economic strategies which address these issues in order to curb further rising inequalities.

Full report can be found here.