Millions of households have missed, or expect to miss, payments on at least one bill as a result of the coronavirus crisis, and could face serious consequences as a result, Citizens Advice has said.
Since the lockdown started, millions of workers have been furloughed or laid off by employers, and seen their pay fall as a result.
Measures have been put in place to allow borrowers payment holidays and stall evictions, but the charity said that after these protections are lifted, millions face a “financial cliff edge”.
A survey found a quarter of respondents had missed, or expected to miss, a payment, and 20% had missed payments of rent, council tax or telecoms bills. Arrears in these payments can have the most severe consequences, the charity said, with eviction, bailiff action or disconnection possible. If the results are extrapolated across the rest of the population, Citizens Advice said 11 million people could face problems when protections put in place during the crisis end. Property possessions and face-to-face bailiff recovery have been paused, but these measures are not due to continue beyond June.
The survey found that people facing the greatest health risk from coronavirus were three times more likely to have fallen behind on a bill than average, and that the figure was the same among those in insecure work, such as agency workers and those on zero-hours contracts. Those aged under 40 were four times as likely to have missed payments as those over 40.
Lucretia Thomas, a project adviser at Citizens Advice Enfield, said the pandemic had had a “devastating” effect on households, with some facing the threat of eviction from landlords.
“Many families that we see are in insecure employment and have lost income during the lockdown,” she said. “They’re telling us that their household expenses have increased as they stay at home to reduce the spread of Covid-19 during this challenging time and beyond.”
Dame Gillian Guy, the chief executive of Citizens Advice, said government measures had eased the financial burden for many households, “but millions still have reason to fear the looming financial cliff edge when these protections end”. She added: “The government must take strong action to prevent millions going over the financial cliff edge, ensure people are helped out of debt, and so support the economic recovery.”
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