A new report suggests the U.K. is at risk of dividing into two starkly different societies due to the lasting impact of Covid lockdowns. The Mail has the story.
The U.K. is in danger of becoming a “two nation” state not seen since the Victorian era after Covid lockdowns had a “catastrophic effect” on the country’s social fabric, a new report has claimed.
There is a widening gap between those who are comfortable and an “underclass” which is disproportionately affected by mental health issues and poverty, according to an inquiry by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
Some 13.4 million people in Britain lead lives marred by family fragility, stagnant wages, poor housing, chronic ill-health and crime, the centre says.
The report, ‘Two Nations: The State Of Poverty In The U.K.’, argues that the most disadvantaged are no better off than 15 years ago, the time of the financial crash, and cites evidence that for many the jump from welfare into work is not worth it.
The CSJ study finds that, especially for the least well off, the pandemic saw the gap between the so-called ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ blown wide open.
The report says that during lockdown, calls to a domestic abuse helpline rose 700%.
Mental ill health issues in young people went from one in nine to one in six and nearly a quarter amongst the oldest children.
More kids were serially missing school, with severe absence jumping 134%.
1.2 million more people went on working-age benefits, 86% more people sought help for addictions and prisoners were locked up for 22.5 hours per day.
“There is a growing gap between those who can get by and those stuck at the bottom,” the reports concluded on the findings.
Six in 10 of the general public say that their area has a good quality of life, but this drops to less than two in five of the most deprived.
Twenty years ago, just one in nine children were assessed as having a clinically recognisable mental health problem. That figure is now one in five, rising to nearly one in four for those aged 17-19.
If trends continue, the report argues that by 2030 over one in four five to 15 year-olds, which may be as many as 2.3 million children, could have a mental disorder.
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