840,000 private tenants in England and Wales could be behind on rent
More than 800,000 private tenants in England and Wales could be behind on their rent, with young people and the self-employed most likely to have missed payments, research for a landlords group has found.
Ban on bailiff-enforced evictions in England extended to end of March
The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, said the ban – introduced at the start of the pandemic last March to protect private renters – will remain in place for all but the most serious cases for another six weeks.
Fears grow over hidden child abuse since start of pandemic
Vulnerable children are facing an increasing wave of hidden abuse since the start of the pandemic, according to ongoing evidence of a slump in the numbers being identified by social services.Vulnerable children are facing an increasing wave of hidden abuse since the start of the pandemic, according to ongoing evidence of a slump in the numbers being identified by social services.
Homeless people face lockdown with no return of ‘Everyone In’ emergency policy
The Government has not restarted the widely praised Everyone In scheme that helped to house rough sleepers at the start of the pandemic
Shock new figures fuel fears of more lockdown domestic abuse killings in UK
Calls to the UK’s largest domestic abuse helpline are rising “week on week” as new figures reveal that almost 50 suspected killings may have occurred during the first lockdown.
Greggs to cut more than 800 jobs as Covid lockdown hits sales
Greggs has announced plans to cut more than 800 jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The chief executive of the bakery chain said it “will not be profitable as a business” if sales stay at the levels seen during lockdown, as it was confirmed that 820 staff would lose their jobs.
Prime Minister finally gives way to Marcus Rashford in a second u-turn on child food poverty.
After weeks of increasing pressure, Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally gave way to calls from footballer Marcus Rashford and a number of charities to extend free school meals for children from low income families during future school holidays in England,
The new government package on offer will include a £170 million Covid Winter grant scheme to support families in need and an extension of the holiday activities and food programme through next year’s Easter Summer and Christmas breaks.
Covid-19 crisis pushing middle income families to food bank help.
Food aid charities have identified a new cohort of food bank users who previously held good jobs and enjoyed comfortable incomes but are now claiming welfare benefits for the first time. Members of the Feeding Britain and Independent Food Network say they are now seeing people with mortgages and cars who own businesses or are self employed but have been tipped into crisis due to gaps in the social security system.
Before Covid, research suggests that the vast majority of food bank users were destitute, however this has now widened. The phenomenon of the so-called ‘newly hungry’ is revealed as Feeding Britain’s network of charities reported massive increases in the amount of food aid they had given out since March
Homeless charities say more support for rough sleepers will be needed this Winter
With an increasing number of people losing their jobs, the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is leading to a second surge in the number of people being made homeless.
Despite a ban on evictions, tens of thousands of people have been forced onto the streets. The government has acknowledged the crisis, pledging a £15 million pound emergency fund to go towards housing the most vulnerable rough sleepers. It has named Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Cornwall, Leicester, London, Manchester, Oxford and Salford as priority areas. The homelessness sector is calling for help on a larger scale than the £15 million pound scheme.
Calls for homelessness scheme to be brought back for the English Lockdown.
A group of charities and campaigners have called for the government to relaunch its homelessness strategy to protect thousands of homeless people from the second wave of Covid-19. The “everyone in” policy housed almost 15,000 homeless people in budget hotels during the first wave of the pandemic
In a letter addressed to the home secretary, Priti Patel and the housing secretary Robert Jenrick, the group of frontline workers urged ministers to reopen hotels to thousands of rough sleepers.