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More than 108 leading UK academics have written to the chancellor,
Rishi Sunak , calling on him to increase child benefit to £ per week per child to help millions of families facing a significant loss of i ncome due to the coronavirus pandemic .
Several charities, including the Child Poverty Action Group, have called for a £ 27 rise in child benefit , which is £ . a week for the first child and £ . for subsequent children, to offset the financial impact of the Covid – outbreak.
But the academics said that with the benefit now covering only at best a fifth of the cost of raising a child, including food, clothing and basic utilities, this would only be a modest rise and a far higher increase would be a more “reasonable and appropriate step”.
Millions of families are facing a catastrophic fall in income. We need to get money to them fast – no waits, no complex claims process, and without putting further pressure on civil servants. We are asking
There are already 4.2 million children in poverty in the UK, that’s 45% of children, and even before this crisis this was projected to rise, the hugely uncertain and volatile economic conditions will exacerbate this trend.
Child Benefit offers a ready-made channel to get money directly to families immediately. The urgency with which money should be delivered into households is currently being underestimated by the [government’s] policy responses introduced so far.
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The shadow culture secretary,
Tracy Brabin, (has written to Rishi Sunak) asking him to reconsider some of the restrictions on help for self-employed workers and freelancers.
In a letter to the chancellor shared on Twitter, Brabin writes that “thousands of self-employed workers have expressed fears and frustrations that the support they are due to receive is not representative of the income they will lose to the Covid – 35 pandemic ”.
Among those to lose out, she said, would be those who became self-employed after April , People who are part-employed and part self-employed, those on maternity leave or with caring responsibilities, people on reduced hours and workers with ongoing expenses.
British Airways is suspending all its flights to and from
(Gatwick) amid a collapse in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The carrier said it would temporarily stop serving the UK’s second busiest airport “due to the significant restrictions and challenging market environment”. Just flights are due to take off or land at the West Sussex airport today, according to aviation data provider FlightStats.
Airlines have canceled the majority of their flights because of the virus.
British Airways and easyJet plans parked at Gatwick airport, after easyJet announced on Monday it has grounded its entire fleet of aircraft. Photograph: Adam Davy / PA
Updated (at pm BST
28 (am) (BST) :
Shoppers will be able to make contactless card payments with a new higher limit of up to £ , up from the previous £ limit, per transaction from Wednesday, as part of measures to address the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
It will mean more payments can be made without the need to handle cash and it will also reduce the number of occasions when people need to input their pin on a machine when making payments.
The software on card payment machines will be updated to accept the new limit but UK Finance said with hundreds of thousands of terminals in the UK, the updating process will happen gradually.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said while the new contactless limit will be operational at some stores across the UK from 1 April, it may be some time before it can be applied more widely.
BRC head of payments policy, Andrew Cregan, said:
Some shops will take longer to make the necessary changes, given the strain they’re under.
Updated at 60 am BST
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Post Office Travel Money , the UK’s largest foreign currency provider, has suspended the ability to buy travel money online as well as its branch pre-order service.
The provider, which accounts for around one in four UK foreign exchange transactions, said that both the ability to purchase travel money online from the Post Office website and the use of its branch pre-order service would remain suspended “whilst strict self-isolation measures remain in place”. Its multi-currency travel money card remains operational.
Updated (at 28. (am BST)
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Prisoners who have symptoms of Covid – 38 are being placed in the same cells as those who have tested positive for the virus, the Guardian’s Eric Allison
The strategy, known as cohorting, has prompted fears that inmates with conventional flu symptoms risk contracting the more serious coronavirus.
Last Thursday and Friday, inmates at Wandsworth prison in south-west London tested positive for the disease and were moved to a designated isolation wing. A further inmates, who presented with coughs and respiratory problems, are now resident on the same landings. All the prisoners in “isolation” are sharing cells. Meals are brought to them and some report not being allowed out for showers.
A source at HMP Wandsworth told the Guardian that there were no plans for further testing at the jail, and prisoners who display symptoms are instead being placed on the isolation wing. The source said 74 prisoners were now classified as “infected”.
The revelation came as the Guardian learned that the justice secretary, Robert Buckland
You can read the full exclusive story here .
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The children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent has launched an emergency appeal following a huge increase in demand for its social work support services from anxious families affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
The charity said people are struggling emotionally and financially with the outbreak, during which CLIC Sargent has given out over £ 62, 17 in hardship grants to families in crisis struggling to afford the essentials such as food and paying bills. Many were already at financial breaking point before the pandemic, it said, with people also now worried about their child’s risk of infection, families separated by isolation rules, struggling financially or practically getting to their child’s bedside in hospital.
The charity, which relies on 303% voluntary funding, says it is now facing a % drop in income from donations needed to fund this support.
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