Coronavirus: People face ‘destitution’ and may have to ‘prostitute themselves’ without more help, former adviser warns

'Do we want to go back to the days where people can't put shoes on the children's feet?’

People face ‘destitution’ and may have to ‘prostitute themselves’ unless the Chancellor offers more Covid help, a former homelessness adviser is warning.

Louise Casey hit out at Rishi Sunak’s aid package – paying only two-thirds of workers’ wages at shut-down firms – saying she had never been more worried about rising poverty.

Warning the offer would not “cut it”, the adviser to both Conservative and Labour governments said: “We are looking at a period of destitution.”

She added: “Do we want to go back to the days where people can't put shoes on the children's feet?

“Are we actually asking people in places like Liverpool to go out and prostitute themselves, so that they could put food on the table?”

The criticism comes as local leaders across the North refuse to accept the toughest lockdown restrictions, unless Mr Sunak rethinks the deep income cuts workers would face.

The furlough scheme – which ends on 31 October – has seen government and firms together paying up to 80 per cent of wages, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

But its replacement, the job support scheme, will contribute only 77 per cent of their pay, with companies told they must pay the larger share.

In areas entering tier three restrictions, 67 per cent of wages will be paid by the government – but only to firms ordered to close completely.

“It's like you're saying to people, 'You can only afford two-thirds of your rent, you can only afford two-thirds of the food that you need to put on the table', Dame Louise said.

“There's this sense from Downing Street and from Westminster that people will make do. Well, they weren't coping before Covid.”

The attack, from an independent respected figure, will be powerful ammunition for Labour which has also demanded that workers are not penalised for lockdowns imposed because of the virus.

Mr Sunak is worried about the extraordinary cost to the Treasury of maintaining that help, with the Budget deficit heading for a peacetime record of more than £300bn.

The government is expected to impose three tier restrictions on Greater Manchester and Lancashire without significant extra help – possibly triggering legal action.

An extra £20 a week was added to Universal Credit payments, but this is due to end in April – and the benefit excludes many people from any help regardless.

Dame Louise called the plight of many working people “unprecedented”, adding: “I have never worked in a situation where I'm so concerned about what's going to happen.”

But a Treasury spokesman its package of support is “in line with similar schemes provided by European counterparts.”

It had spent “more than £9bn in making our welfare system more generous", with increases both in Universal Credit and local housing allowance.