The Financial Inclusion Centre publishes proposals to deal with immediate and longer term financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report highlights that Covid-19 has brought to light serious health and income inequalities in society. Recent analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that the Covid-19 related mortality rate in more deprived areas is more than double the rate in less deprived areas. Similarly, Covid-19 related mortality rates are significantly higher amongst BAME groups than the white British group.
The Financial Inclusion Centre is calling for preparation for the fact that the crisis will be far from over when the temporary measures that have been put in place are removed or phased out. In this paper, it:
- Sets out how households are likely to be affected during the different phases of the crisis (defined as emergency, survival, recovery and rebuilding/restructuring), identifying which groups are most vulnerable to the economic and financial shocks;
- Assesses the effectiveness of current government and regulatory measures in place to protect
households; and - Proposes a range of measures to protect households during the different phases of the crisis
to stimulate debate.
The proposals are aimed at:
- Improving income support and social security measures
- Providing access to emergency and recovery loans, and affordable long term credit options
- Protecting overindebted households including those in arrears on mortgages, consumer
credit, and other debts such as council tax - Rebuilding household finances, and building future financial resilience by helping people to save and insure
- Improving consumer protection and regulation in financial services
- Protecting renters
- Closing the rights and protection deficits in other sectors
The proposals are split into three sections:
- Measures to close the gaps in the current set of government and regulatory protections
- More permanent measures needed to protect households during the survival and recovery
phases when the current emergency protections are removed or phased out - ‘Greenfield’ proposals to rebuild and restructure household finances, reform the financial
system, and tackle major public policy crises