INQUIRY LAUNCHED INTO IMPACT OF PANDEMIC ON PEOPLE WITH PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS

As the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world, the UK government’s Women & Equalities Committee is seeking information about its impact on people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act.

These include: age, disability, sex, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and gender reassignment. The committee also wants to hear about the measures being taken to tackle this impact, following concerns expressed by the Equality & Human Rights Commission, among other organisations.

The committee wants to find out more about the impact government measures, including emergency legislation, are having on people with these protected characteristics, and is asking:

• Have all the relevant equality issues been considered?

• Are there any unforeseen consequences?

• If there are problems, what could be done differently/ better?

Among issues already brought to the committee’s attention are:

• Stonewall has reiterated that for some LGBTQ+ people, the risks of homelessness, insecure employment, restricted access to healthcare and other inequalities will deepen as a result of the health crisis;

• The increased risk and severity of domestic abuse when there’s a requirement to stay home - and the pressure on the healthcare and education settings and specialist services which might normally identify and assess risks and provide support;

• The urgent need to redeploy healthcare and social work professionals to deal with the pandemic may leave older and disabled people vulnerable in other ways;

• Children with special educational needs and their families may be particularly affected by school closures;

• The impact on ‘gig economy’ workers, who are more likely to be young, from a BAME (black and minority ethnic) background or have caring commitments.

Aware there may be many more equality impacts, the committee says it is keen to hear from individuals and from organisations on the following questions:

• How have people have been affected by the illness or the response to it?

• Have there been specific impacts on people due to them having a protected characteristic?

• Are there any unforeseen consequences to measures brought in to ease the burden on frontline staff?

The government has said current measures will be reviewed this month, and measures in the Coronavirus Act be voted on again in six months’ time:

• What needs to change or improve, which could be acted on this month?

• What needs to change or improve, which could be acted on in six months’ time?

The committee asked for responses by the end of April, but has said that evidence submitted after that time will still be useful as it will continue to review the situation and scrutinise the government. Any evidence directly relevant to the government’s three-week review of the current measures should be provided as soon as possible.

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