Covid 19 – supporting the borough to recover and renew
Since March 2020, Covid-19 has affected us all, our residents, communities, public institutions, businesses, and voluntary and community organisations.
Covid-19 has been a public health and economic crisis. The Council is committed to working with its partners and communities to understand the impact, address the challenges and plan longer-term recovery. For Kensington and Chelsea, the lasting impact of the Grenfell tragedy adds another dimension to the experience of the pandemic. The bereaved, survivors and those in the local community are living through two crises in short succession and, for many affected by Grenfell, the pandemic has undoubtedly exacerbated the trauma already experienced.
It will take several years to fully recover from the impact of Covid-19. The borough’s main employment sectors, retail and accommodation and food services, have been dramatically affected by successive lockdowns and the lack of international tourism and domestic travel. As a result, by the end of February
2021, 8,000 residents were furloughed, under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme scheme. From March 2020 to February 2021, the total number of Universal Credit claimants has doubled, and in this same period, the number of young residents claiming Universal Credit has almost tripled. This indicates that young people are likely to be disproportionately affected by the pandemic in terms of job prospects and economic opportunity.
Covid-19 has worsened the inequality and disparity amongst our communities. We especially recognise the additional impact felt by communities in North Kensington, where we have tailored our ongoing support in recognition of this. Our focus on narrowing the gap and the lessons learned from the Grenfell tragedy and its aftermath are reflected in our approach to recovery from the pandemic.
We are considering the short and longer-term impact of the pandemic in supporting the borough to recover and renew.
Since March 2020, the Council has directed essential expenditure to support the borough’s residents and to aid vulnerable people living at risk. This includes spend on personal protective equipment, laptops for home-schooling and services for people facing homelessness.
We have seen some unintended outcomes as a consequence of the pandemic, some of which have been positive . We accommodated all 120 rough sleepers during lockdown in 2020. The modified travel patterns have played a significant role in improving our environmental footprint; in September 2020, pollution levels have decreased by up to a quarter at three out of five monitoring sites, compared to September 2019.
Recovering from this unprecedented health and economic crisis will require the Council to look at where it can take different approaches to make a real, long-term difference to people’s lives. We are already making progress. Up to £8 million of additional funding has been identified to support the Council’s recovery effort and a series of interventions are being developed across the following themes: business and employment support, emotional wellbeing, social investment, climate change and financial resilience. Our recovery work is aligned with the priorities set out in this Council Plan as well as our work with partners across London.