Employment & education.
Some of the most well-reported impacts of the pandemic have been the effects on employment and education.
On 23rd March it was announced that all non-essential businesses, schools and workplaces would close. There were some exceptions, for instance schools remained open for the children of key workers and supermarkets and other shops remained open, though often operating in very different, unfamiliar and less profitable ways.
The government announced a furlough scheme for larger businesses and a hardship fund to be administered by local government to smaller businesses.
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Children & young people.
This crisis has had a profound impact on children and young people.
Lockdown has meant the initial closure of schools for many, as well as a pause in day-to-day social, educational and sporting activities outside the home. This has had a particular impact on those children who are most vulnerable and/or most dependent on external support.
Many organisations working with young people in Sheffield have also expressed concerns about significant longer-term impacts from the COVID-19 crisis, in particular the lockdown, on young people’s mental health, wellbeing, education and future prospects.
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Providers reported that younger children not yet eligible for free school meals have not had the same safety net as older pupils, despite living in similar circumstances. With some parents struggling to access Universal Credit, waiting for payments to arrive, or having no recourse to public funds, nurseries have sought to provide meals from food banks or paid for by workers.
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Young carers have had a particularly gruelling experience of coronavirus. Young people who are already more isolated and stressed than many of their peers, experienced a loss of formal and informal support. For some lockdown was not much different from the isolation they felt already, for others it meant little respite from a very demanding home life.
Digital exclusion.
Digital exclusion has been a significant issue for some of the most vulnerable people in the city.
Those who have needed home-learning resources the most often have the least access to them. Those who would benefit from being unable to work from home to stay safe, have been unable to.
Digital Inclusion, and the lack of it, has been said to “lay everything bare”. It’s not just being unable to get online: it has at its heart increasing layers of health and social inequalities.
Business impact.
This crisis has had profound and significant impacts on the economy and business. The local Sheffield picture reflects the national and global one and the challenges which have arisen here, as elsewhere, will likely continue in the weeks, months and even years ahead.
There are of course some sectors of the economy which have seen growth over the past few months, including some food or manufacturing business, and those who provide IT support or provision. On the whole however, it has been a period of significant uncertainty and challenge.
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A survey of 457 businesses by Business Sheffield identified a number of concerns and issues:
Operations: Most businesses (86%) have either significantly reduced operations or temporarily ceased trading as a result of lockdown. 10% of businesses continued to trade with minor changes and 2% reported that they were continuing to trade as normal. Four businesses (1%) had ceased trading permanently.
Demand: 21% (98 businesses) have reported a decline in sales/bookings that is manageable, while 19% of respondents (90 businesses) have experienced a decline in sales/bookings to critical levels. (Business Sheffield Survey
Government Support: 26% of businesses have expressed difficulty accessing the government support they need, 25% stated they were not eligible for support on offer (that met their needs) , 47% advised they had received financial support in a timely fashion
Staffing: 69 businesses (15% of employers) responding to the survey had already made staff redundant or were planning to.
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53,300 Sheffield workers were furloughed (17.7%) of the working population.
6,198 businesses in Sheffield have been allocated grants totalling over £100m.
Business Sheffield has responded to over 5300 calls and provided 3000 1-2-1 business advisor sessions since March to support businesses to remain solvent through lockdown.
Economic recovery & health outcomes.
For those who are already economically marginalised, any recession is likely to hit them hard both economically and in terms of health and wellbeing.
It is imperative that our economic recovery focusses on raising up the most vulnerable as much as possible, to allow them to weather the perfect storm of COVID and recession.
People in the bottom 40% of the income distribution are almost twice as likely to report poor health as the highest 20%, with poverty in particular associated with worse outcomes
Those in working lower-income households are at greater risk of unemployment and income loss as the government’s Job Retention Scheme winds down
As such, the future economic consequences of COVID-19 may be more severe and prolonged for those who are least financially equipped to weather the storm, risking an additional long-term burden on their health.
Reflections
How can we mitigate the effects of a disrupted education?
Our children and young people have been significantly impacted and many of these impacts are yet to fully emerge. We will need to have a sustained focus on supporting them to overcome this, with particular attention paid to those groups of children who have been disproportionately impacted, and will potentially see their life chances and opportunities diminished without targeted support.
How do we ensure that schools and education providers are supported to address the key protective factors for vulnerable children?
How can we continue to address the impacts of existing digital exclusion which have become more profound, with some of the most vulnerable people more isolated than ever?