Weathering the winter storm: Strengthening financial security in Scotland through the ongoing Covid-19 crisis
Article
No one should have to live on the edge of financial disaster, or to feel as if they do. Financial insecurity harms people and their families, as well as our workplaces and wider economy. We find new evidence that financial insecurity is detrimental to the mental health of people under strain across Scotland: over 50 per cent of people struggling to get by financially prior to Covid-19 reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. High levels of financial insecurity can harm our collective health and prosperity by hampering our ability to participate fully in our communities, and to fulfil our potential at work.
While we are all weathering the storm of Covid-19, we are not all in the same boat. Our analysis finds that those at greatest risk include:
- low-income families
- parents and carers
- young people
- disabled people
- black and minority ethnic workers
- renters
- the self-employed.
This report argues for both long- and shorter-term action from both the UK and Scottish governments, and makes a number of recommendations that we believe can be delivered in the rest of this parliamentary term, between now and May next year.
Related items
Taken to heart: Inequalities in heart disease in Scotland
More than 7.6 million people across the UK live with cardiovascular disease (CVD), around twice as many as live with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer combined.Skills passports: An essential part of a fair transition
This month, government will publish its Clean Energy Workforce Strategy. This plan covers two aims. First, filling the growing demand for skills in clean energy industries is essential to keep on track to reach the government’s clean power…Fixing the leak: How to end the £22 billion annual taxpayer losses at the Bank of England
The Bank of England increased its interest rates over recent years, aimed at reducing inflation. But this has also had an unintended effect on the Bank of England’s massive government bond buying – ‘quantitative easing’ – programme.