Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has become more aware and appreciative of the workers now called ‘key workers’. However, organisational change and deregulation over recent years has led to high levels of job degradation in key work sectors. In this blog, Gail Hebson and Miguel Martínez Lucio introduce and present research from a range […]
How to support refugees’ and asylum seekers’ health and wellbeing
Spending time in an allotment was permitted as a form of exercise throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, and as it eases, provides a physically distanced way of socialising. In this blog, researcher Jo Biglin outlines the vital role these spaces play in the mental and physical wellbeing of asylum seekers and refugees, and suggests policies to […]
Sharing the load: How work sharing can reduce unemployment, improve gender equality, and benefit mental health
The need to build back better has received widespread endorsement, not only because the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity for change but also because it has revealed the high price paid by those facing inequality in the labour market, including inequality by gender. Here, Professor Jill Rubery, Director of the Work and Equalities Institute, discusses […]
Bogus self-employment and COVID-19: an added layer of insecurity
The outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis has raised concerns about its impact on precarious and vulnerable workers when most of them have been at the front line during the crisis and their work has been revealed as essential. Dr Marti Lopez-Andreu, from the Work and Equalities Institute, investigates some of these key workers in areas […]
How resilient were UK regions to the 2008 financial crisis? Recovery policies for COVID-19 crisis
Dr Marianne Sensier, Professor Fiona Devine and Dr Elvira Uyarra have conducted research comparing the economic resilience of UK sub-regions in recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. In this blog, they map the resilience across the UK in recovery from the financial crisis and suggest policies for increasing resilience for recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. […]
The Health and Social Care system under strain: Rethinking integration policies in the post-COVID-19 era
In 2019, the NHS published plans (‘The NHS Long Term Plan’) promising to introduce inventive, ambitious ways to bring NHS and social care together across England, working with the private and voluntary sector, and users and carers. Needless to say, things have changed since 2019. Nevertheless, the recent COVID-19 pandemic is showing us just how […]
#HereToDeliver: Valuing food delivery workers in the future
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore a new cadre of valued workers. And it’s not the corporate CEO or senior business leader but the delivery workers that are helping cafes and restaurants stay open (in some form) during lockdown. Cristina Inversi, Aude Cefaliello and Tony Dundon of the Work and Equalities Institute (WEI) […]
Follow the science
The underlying conditions that make COVID-19 into a killer disease are themselves pandemics. Here, Honorary Reader Martin Yuille and Professor Emeritus Bill Ollier outline the need to tackle these conditions by combining public policy reform with community change and technological innovation. Underlying health conditions are the greatest risk factor associated with COVID-19 mortality A new […]
Furlough, fraud and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The Government-implemented Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) supports companies in their attempts to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic, permitting them to place employees on a temporary leave of absence known as ‘furlough’, and claim state aid to pay furloughed staff either 80% of their usual wages or up to £2,500 per month, whichever amount is […]
The voluntary and community sector and COVID-19: Going to war without ammunition?
COVID-19 has forced us all to rethink how to maintain social connections in the neighbourhoods where we live and work. For the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE), this has meant a rapid rethink in how to provide services whilst observing social distancing guidelines. In this blog, Sophie Yarker and Kirsty Bagnall, along with Tine Buffel, Patty […]