IMRAN Hussain, MP for Bradford East, is calling on Ministers to introduce a ‘Pandemic Debt Relief Programme’ to provide urgent assistance to stop an impending ‘debt avalanche’ in Bradford.

This comes after findings which show Bradford has the second-highest proportion of people who are likely to have fallen into debt during the coronavirus pandemic

According to the Centre for Cities, an independent research organisation focused on improving economies of the UK's largest cities and towns, the share of neighbourhoods in Bradford where people are likely to have fallen into debt during the coronavirus pandemic because of the impact on jobs and incomes is estimated to be as high as 54 per cent, second only to Hull with a 56 per cent share.

The research indicates this high proportion of households in debt will have a devastating impact on Bradford’s recovery.

While cities and large towns in the South are expected to benefit from the easing of Covid restrictions due to the household savings made during the pandemic, allowing people to inject money back into their local economies, cities across the North like Bradford where people have less money to spend will be held back.

Failing to address the high number of debts accumulated over the last year will also leave more households, who were otherwise financially stable before the pandemic, trapped in a cycle of debt and poverty that it will be difficult to escape from.

Mr Hussain has therefore joined with calls to introduce a ‘Pandemic Debt Relief Programme’ to allow households to deal with specific debts they have accumulated without harming their credit scores, and is pushing for increased investment in debt advice services to cope with a growing number of people facing financial difficulties.

Whilst the Chancellor announced in March 2021 that the £20 uplift to Universal Credit, which was applied during the pandemic, will continue for a further six months, many, including Mr Hussain, have also called for a permanent extension, as well as an extension to cover existing legacy benefits to help boost the disposable incomes of the poorest and lowest paid in Bradford and support a local economic recovery.

Mr Hussain said: “The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact upon the economy, incomes and household finances, dragging many people across Bradford into debt as a result, and it is wrong as we emerge from the pandemic and return to normality for these people to face the consequences of circumstances beyond their control.

“Ministers must therefore introduce a specific scheme to offer relief on debt that has built up as a result of the pandemic, alongside protecting the uplift to Universal Credit and supporting sectors of the economy such as aviation where restrictions are still in place before we witness the devastating impact of a ‘debt avalanche’ in Bradford.

“If we don’t tackle this problem and people continue to be held back by debts that have been accumulated, then the economic recovery that we desperately need to see will be held back, and we will simply not see the levelling up of our local economies that the Prime Minister keeps promising us.”