Tackling Poverty in Leicester
Impact of Covid-19
Much of our work on this strategy was undertaken at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020. In March 2020, the whole world changed with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The majority of the data and information that had been gathered up to that time is still up-to-date and relevant. It is presented in the main sections of this strategy. However, publication of the strategy was inevitably delayed as the local authority had to shift priorities overnight to deal with the emerging public health crisis.
Once council staff and partners had adjusted to working from home and using online platforms for meeting together, follow up events were convened to revisit the issue of poverty in the city. As well as offering a general recap on issues previously discussed, we asked participants to consider what had changed. What issues were they seeing in terms of poverty over the months of lockdown?
As expected, the pandemic has been particularly difficult for those who were already experiencing poverty. Whilst central government put various schemes in place, including the job retention (‘furlough’) scheme, to try to protect jobs and businesses, inevitably people in precarious employment situations were negatively affected as zero hours contracts reduced overnight to zero and many people were made redundant.
Where there were already inequalities, the pandemic has made them more pronounced. The virus affected BAME and deprived communities disproportionately. On top of these national issues, Leicester was the first area to experience a local lockdown and spent longer under restrictions than anywhere else in England.
Digital exclusion has been exacerbated. While some groups (for example, older people) may have been accessing technologies for the first time and embracing new skills through necessity, those without access to this technology have been left behind and further isolated by the lockdown.
What people told us
Unintended positive outcomes of Covid-19
New/exacerbated challenges
Responding to demand rather than need.
Debt on hold – when this is ‘lifted’, how to manage this?
Highlighted digital divide.
Further resources
Leicestershire Cares
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Storm ready: how to keep us afloat as unemployment hits – a briefing that includes recommendations on how the withdrawal of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) should be managed (September 2020)
- UK Poverty 2020/21 – annual report on the state of poverty in the UK (January 2021)
As part of the measures to support people during the pandemic, the government increased universal credit payments by £20 per week. This provision, although planned to be a temporary increase, has now been in place for over a year. This means that families have both become used to the level of income and also reliant upon it. Many case studies have shown that the £20 has often been the difference between just the children eating and the adults in the family also being able to have adequate food. The JRF has been at the forefront of a campaign (‘Keep the £20 Universal Credit lifeline’) to government to make the £20 uplift permanent. Find out more about this campaign.
JRF data shows the number of households affected in Leicester (August 2021):
| Number of families in receipt of UC or WTC | Leicester East | Leicester South | Leicester West |
|---|---|---|---|
| With children | 10,050 (64%) | 8,580 (62%) | 8,920 (62%) |
| Without children | 5,300 (21%) | 6,370 (17%) | 6,520 (19%) |
| Total | 15,350 (37%) | 14,950 (29%) | 15,440 (32%) |
Child Poverty Action Group
- The cost of learning in lockdown – family experiences of school closures (June 2020)
- Child poverty in the Covid-19 pandemic, a presentation to the Local Government Association and members (June 2020)
- Poverty in the pandemic: the impact of coronavirus on low-income families and children (August 2020)
Children North East
Feeding Leicester
The Feeding Leicester steering group, led by Action Homeless, surveyed emergency food providers to understand what has happened since lockdown in March 2020.
They found:
- There were big challenges around the sheer number of people requiring support, volunteer and staff capacity, reaching the most vulnerable and maintaining good supplies of fresh fruit, vegetables and high quality protein foods.
- Providers felt that need had been driven by rising unemployment, low wages, people isolating with no family to support them, sudden changes in financial circumstances and panic buying of goods leading to scarcity.
- The groups who most needed support were those experiencing unemployment or low wages, those with no access to public funds, single parents, older people and those on benefits who struggle to make ends meet.
- People accessing food in this way were increasingly relying on it rather than needing in a one-off emergency situation.
- Providers said that the support they need to meet the challenges included help with funding, supply of food, regular donations of ambient food, storage and delivery solutions, and additional advice support covering debt and budget management.