Fabian Society Report on combined impact of April benefit cuts and mass unemployment

Fabian Society focusses on the double whammy of mass unemployment and temporary 'pandemic benefit' cuts

In its report 'Double Trouble", the Fabian Society looks at the rising unemployment and the Government's plans to implement a huge cut in social security by reversing the temporary benefit policies they introduced at the start of the pandemic.

The Report examines the consequences for families of a sharp rise in unemployment alongside these cuts to social security. It first looks at the difference that will be made by keeping or scrapping the temporary 2020 social security measures, while assuming there is no significant change in unemployment; then it examines the consequences for households of mass unemployment in 2021.

They say: '2020 has been a year that millions of people would rather forget. Everyone in Britain has lost something and many have suffered very greatly - through illness, isolation, bereavement or having no work. 9 million employees were on furlough in the early summer and the number of people relying on universal credit has increased by 3 million so far this year'.

'Looking forward to 2021, the public health prospects are brighter and mass vaccination holds out the possibility of a return to social normality by the middle of next year. But the economic consequences of the crisis are likely to last much longer. With turmoil across so much of the economy, there is every reason to expect a steep rise in unemployment in 2021, once the furlough and business support measures come to an end'.

And they add:

'At the same time, in April 2021, ministers are planning to implement a huge cut in social security by reversing the temporary benefit policies they introduced at the start of the pandemic. The key change was a rise in the main adult allowance for universal credit of around £20 per week. This was a hugely welcome measures and has sustained millions of households with zero or low earnings through 2020. Now we can expect it to disappear, just as the government's main unemployment-prevention measures come to an end'.

Source:

DOUBLE TROUBLE - MASS UNEMPLOYMENT AND BENEFIT CUTS AFTER THE PANDEMIC

https://fabians.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Double-Trouble-Fabian-Society-report.pdf

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