Two-thirds of families on universal credit pushed into debt during lockdown

They are going without food and other essentials and worrying if they will be able to pay the rent – new research has found that two-thirds of people on Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit have been forced into debt during lockdown.

And the impact has been hardest for those from BAME communities – already of course disproportionately affected by coronavirus itself.

Our social affairs editor Jackie Long has spoken to one family whose lives have been touched in every way by Covid – and are left struggling to cope with bereavement and financial hardship.