Coronavirus

We will keep this page updated with relevant information about the coronavirus (COVID-19), families and social security.

Reports

Poverty in the pandemic: The impact of coronavirus on low-income families and children

The Cost of Learning in Lockdown: family experiences of school closures

Briefings

CPAG welcomes steps that have been taken so far to support low-income people, but more needs to be done to support families in this time of national crisis. Read our full briefing.

We have also published a briefing on how local authorities are spending the hardship money they have been allocated by central government and good practice with local welfare assistance schemes.

Through our Early Warning Systems in Scotland and England, Wales and Northern Ireland, we are seeing some of the gaps in the social security system children and families affected by the pandemic are facing, and highlighting these in regular briefings:

read the first Mind the Gaps briefing - groups excluded from claiming UC; making and managing a claim; families struggling with additional costs of children
read the second Mind the Gaps briefing - the benefit cap; confusion over benefit entitlement; gaps in financial protection for some bereaved claimants
read the third Mind the Gaps briefing - problems with the job retention scheme and self-employed income support scheme; workers refused furlough; confusion over intereaction between self-employed income support scheme and social security system; workers not eligible for income replacement schemes or UC
read the fourth Mind the Gaps briefing - people accruing housing costs when they cannot move; claimants in receipt of PIP being refused an extension; claimants in receipt of severe disability premium transitioning to UC in error; claimants of legacy benefits considering moving to UC because of the temporary increase in amounts
read the fifth Mind the Gaps briefing - the benefit cap
read the sixth Mind the Gaps briefing - migrants left without financial support; people moving to UC in error and being financially worse off as a result
read the seventh Mind the Gaps briefing - ill and disabled claimants losing out due to delays in work capability assessments; claimants left without any income while the DWP investigates cases of fraud
read the eighth Mind the Gaps briefing - parents with no childcare told to take unpaid leave; students excluded from claiming benefits; more families affected by the benefit cap; inadequate support for people who are unable to work due to illness or disability
read the ninth Mind the Gaps briefing - debt recovery in universal credit; sanctions and conditionality
read the tenth Mind the Gaps briefing - problems facing migrants
read the eleventh Mind the Gaps briefing - the benefit cap
read the twelfth Mind the Gaps briefing - low-income workers who followed government advice when COVID-19 hit, and became worse off
read the thirteenth Mind the Gaps briefing - gaps faced by migrants, ill and disabled claimants, survivors of domestic violence, people who have lost their jobs and people required to self-isolate
read the fourteenth Mind the Gaps briefing - a round up of key issues from the past six months

We are also producing regular digests of all the problems that are cropping up through the Early Warning System in Scotland.

Letters

We have written with over 60 others to the Chancellor about the need to increase child benefit.

We have written with 50 others to the Guardian about the need to lift the two-child limit and benefit cap.

Press statements

16 March	Our call for emergency child payment for families hit by school closures
19 March	Our call for Scottish councils to make cash payments to hard up families as schools close
19 March	Children's charities, parents groups, teaching unions and churches in Scotland unite in call for cash payment for families as schools close
20 March	Our response to Chancellor's announcements on supporting jobs during Covid-19
26 March	Our response to latest child poverty statistics: poverty continues to rise as pandemic response falls short for families
7 April	Our joint letter to the Chancellor calling for emergency Covid-19 child benefit rise
5 May	Thousands of families tipped on to universal credit by Covid-19 getting no support for infants – call to suspend two-child limit
12 June	CPAG welcomes new government money for local welfare assistance and urges councils to now adapt schemes to widen access
18 June	The cost of learning in lockdown
6 August	COVID-capped
25 August	New survey: the toll of lockdown on low-income families
31 August	Low-income parents relying on child benefit for household basics

Blogs

26 March	Poor children need a coronavirus bonus
9 April	Mind the gaps – reporting on families’ incomes during the pandemic
21 April	The impact of school closures on children living in poverty in Wales
23 April	Documenting the experiences of low-income families during the pandemic: the ethical challenges
1 May	Supporting children through the pandemic: why we need a Coronavirus Emergency Income Support Scheme
12 May	Families hit harder because nothing for children in Covid-19 response
13 May	Unemployment support post Covid: learning from the job retention scheme
14 May	Increasing child benefit: five tests, five ticks?
21 May	Has the government forgotten children during Covid-19?
25 June	Cost of learning in lockdown: Hannah’s story
3 July	Cost of learning in lockdown: Anna’s story
14 July	Covid realities: monitoring from the front line
16 July	The two-child limit now affects almost one million children – and it is being implemented when poverty is rising for larger families
21 August	Mind the Gaps: social security during the pandemic
3 September	Learning after lockdown: school bells herald extra costs

Welfare rights

If you're an adviser please find the latest on Coronavirus and benefits on AskCPAG

Our advice services remain open for advisers in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and in Scotland.

Coronavirus