Image caption
Lee Longlands built the art-deco store on Broad Street in Birmingham in 1932
An historic furniture company has gone into administration due to coronavirus after almost 120 years in business.
Lee Longlands was established in 1902 and opened its flagship store in Birmingham 30 years later.
The family-run business said it had been forced into administration as a result of the “the devastating impact of the coronavirus lockdown”.
The firm has a number of showrooms across the Midlands and was described as “a household name” in the region.
Image caption
The company’s shops have not been able to trade for three months because of lockdown
Its shops in Birmingham, Leamington Spa, Kidderminster, Abingdon, Derby and Cheltenham were closed for three months and have only just re-opened as lockdown restrictions eased.
Robert Lee is the fourth generation to run the business, which was established by Robert Lee and George Longland.
“For almost 120 years our family business and our employees have put our customers at the heart of everything we do,” he said, adding that the company would be working to fulfil orders “to restore our short term finances”.
The company’s founders were pioneers – in 1907 they became the first store outside of London to install window display lighting after closing time.
Its flagship store in Birmingham was used to store food rations during the Second World War, and the company also contributed to the war effort by producing “blackout fabric” to cover windows, making it harder for enemy bombers to identify targets.
“Lee Longlands is a household name across the Midlands,” Matt Ingram, from administrator Duff and Phelps said.
“The fact that the appointment of administrators has been necessary, demonstrates the devastating financial impact that this pandemic will leave in its wake.”
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Media captionArancha González Laya: “British visitors can arrive freely and without the need for quarantine”
UK tourists will be able to visit Spain without having to quarantine on arrival from Sunday, Spanish officials say.
Spain’s foreign affairs minister has told the BBC that British citizens will be allowed to enter the country freely, without the need to self-isolate.
She said the decision had been made “out of respect” for the 400,000 Britons who have second homes in Spain.
But current rules state that anyone returning to – or entering – the UK still has to self-isolate for 14 days.
It is understood the UK’s quarantine restrictions will be reviewed on 29 June.
The UK Foreign Office is still warning against all but essential international travel.
Quarantine rules for some countries set to be relaxed
When can I go on holiday?
Spain’s foreign affairs minister Arancha González Laya said UK visitors will go through a “triple check” upon arrival to Spain.
They will be asked for their country of origin and to register “so we know we have a contact point to trace them”, she said. They will also undergo a temperature check.
“We want to make sure that we welcome visitors, but we want to do this in safety and security for them, as well as for the Spaniards,” she said.
Ms González Laya said discussions were continuing with the government about exempting Spanish visitors from the UK’s current quarantine travel rules.
“We do hope that [the British authorities] will be sensitive to the 250,000 Spaniards that are also living in the UK and would very much like to enter the UK without quarantine,” she said.
But she added: “We also respect that countries look at entry or exit restrictions on the basis of their own data.”
Spanish officials are also identifying locations in each of the country’s regions where travellers “will be isolated and treated” should they require hospital treatment, according to Ms González Laya.
Image copyright EPA
Image caption
Many Britons have homes in Spain – and it is also popular with tourists
Since 8 June, people arriving in the UK have been required to self-isolate for 14 days to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
The government is now planning to relax its travel quarantine rules for some countries in early July.
UK officials are talking to their counterparts in Portugal, France, Italy, Greece and Spain, and ministers are hoping to make an announcement on 29 June that the government has secured a number of “travel corridors”.
The government had previously said that the quarantine would be reviewed every three weeks and 29 June marks the end of the first three-week period.
Spain’s latest announcement follows confusion earlier in the week over the country’s plans for allowing UK travellers to visit.
Spanish officials had said on Monday that travellers from the UK would not have to quarantine on arrival from Sunday.
But Spain’s foreign affairs minister then suggested the country would impose a two-week quarantine on Britons, if the UK maintained its current travel rules.
The mixed messages began after Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez announced last weekend that Spain’s borders would reopen to travellers from all EU countries on Sunday 21 June – with the exception of Portugal.
A spokeswoman for the government said the UK’s quarantine system was “informed by science, backed by the public and designed to help prevent a devastating second wave of this disease”.
“We are supporting tourism businesses through one of the most generous economic packages in the world, and continue to look at options to increase international travel, when it is safe to do so,” she added.
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Media captionRishi Sunak: “We’re going to get our lives back to normal slowly, and it will be a new normal”
Ministers will announce in the coming week whether the 2m social distancing rule in England will be relaxed, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said.
The government has been reviewing the advice, amid warnings many businesses will not survive under current rules.
Mr Sunak said the outcome of the review will “make an enormous difference” to businesses “keen to see a change”.
The government has said it hopes to reopen pubs, restaurants and hotels from the beginning of July, if safe.
It has yet to give a definitive date for the hospitality sector, but ministers are preparing to ease more coronavirus lockdown restrictions on 4 July.
Speaking on a visit to shops in North Yorkshire, the chancellor said although the review was yet to be completed, it was “something that will make an enormous difference, I think, to many businesses who are keen to see a change”.
The government has faced pressure from leaders of the hospitality sector and its own MPs to lessen the 2m rule, with widespread concerns around the impact it would have on the UK economy.
Mr Sunak said he was “very understanding of the calls for action on that, particularly for our hospitality industry, for our pubs, for our restaurants”.
His comments came after a raft of measures reported in the Times revealed how parts of the hospitality sector could look significantly different compared to pre-lockdown.
Pubs could be patrolled and people could be encouraged to use apps to order drinks, according to the newspaper.
Meanwhile, the Department for Health and Social Care announced a further 128 people had died after testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the UK total to 42,589.
Image copyright EPA
Prime Minister Boris Johnson commissioned the review on 14 June, saying there was “margin for manoeuvre” in the 2m social distancing rule as the number of coronavirus cases falls.
The other nations of the UK have not announced any plans to change the 2m distance.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she is looking at the evidence, and Northern Ireland’s Economy Minister Diane Dodds has said she is open to changing it.
A coronavirus adviser to the Welsh government said the risk in reducing the distance “isn’t very big”.
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Media captionThe UK government is advising us to stay two metres apart – but what does that look like?
Earlier, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions that the government’s review of the 2m rule will be “concluding shortly, within the coming days”.
Other new measures for the hospitality sector reported in the Times include:
Drinkers could be asked to order via an app rather than going to the bar
Staff could patrol to enforce social distancing
Tables at restaurants might not be set in advance
Room service in hotels could be left outside the doors to guests’ rooms
Kate Nicholls, CEO of UK Hospitality, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the guidelines seen by the industry involve businesses carrying out their own risk assessments, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach for “everything from a burger van in a park to the Fat Duck in Bray”.
Ms Nicholls said a third of pubs and restaurants could not reopen with the 2m rule in place, although all hotels could. But reducing it to 1m meant rather than generating 30% of normal revenue and losing money, businesses could break even at 70% of normal revenue.
“Every day we have delay and uncertainty about that opening date, the industry is haemorrhaging cash and jobs and livelihoods are at risk,” Ms Nicholls said.
The UK government currently advises people to stay 2m (6ft 6in) apart from others to avoid spreading coronavirus.
The World Health Organization recommends a distance of at least 1m (just over 3ft), but the UK government’s scientific advisers say that being 1m apart carries up to 10 times the risk of being 2m apart.
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Media captionA pub near Milton Keynes has been testing a possible post-lockdown system
Prof Calum Semple at the University of Liverpool, a member of the government’s Sage scientific advisory group, said he had changed his personal view on the need for social distancing because there were now “low levels, and sustained low levels, of transmission throughout the country”.
He said 2m was still safer than 1m, but it was “now a reasonable political decision to relax these rules” and to open businesses where the 2m rule is harder to maintain, as long as there are other precautions in place.
If the UK faces a second wave of infections, Prof Semple said it might consider imposing social distancing rules on a regional basis, with different requirements for London compared to Carlisle, for example.
Some bars, restaurants and pubs say they will be unable to make a profit if the 2m guidance is still in place when they reopen.
Tourism firms have also warned of tens of thousands of job losses unless the distance is shortened.
The coronavirus alert level was downgraded from four to three on Friday. Under level three, the virus is considered to be “in general circulation” and there could be a “gradual relaxation of restrictions” – whereas in level four transmission was considered to be “high or rising exponentially”.
On the day, the government announced that all pupils in all year groups in England will go back to school full-time in September, alongside a £1bn fund to help England’s pupils catch up with learning.
There are separate rules for managing the threat of coronavirus in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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The way British businesses trade with the European Union is set to change fundamentally at the end of the year.
The UK left the EU on 31 January but remains in the single market and customs union until 31 December, while the two sides try to hammer out a trade agreement.
The end of the so-called transition period in December will mean EU rules will no longer directly apply in Great Britain and the goods trade between them will be governed by new rules.
But these will only be introduced gradually.
Last week, the government announced that relaxed controls will apply for goods coming into the UK from the EU for a period of six months.
These will apply whether the UK and the EU conclude a free trade agreement before the end of the year or not.
Unlike last year, when the difference between a deal and “no deal” was the difference between continuing the same arrangements and a sudden reset of the two sides’ trading relationship, the gap between the two outcomes is smaller.
But many of the challenges are the same.
So what are the new rules that will apply at the end of the transition and why are they being implemented?
On the way in
The temporary regime announced by the government applies to goods arriving into the UK via ports like Dover.
And they apply only to trade directly between the EU and Great Britain, not Northern Ireland.
Image copyright Reuters
Image caption
Trade across Northern Ireland’s land border is covered by a separate agreement
Trade across the land border between Republic and Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK is covered by the special arrangements under the withdrawal agreement.
The Northern Ireland protocol, as it is known, applies until the UK and the EU agree to replace it or the devolved assembly at Stormont votes to end it.
Unless special procedures apply, traders normally have to submit customs documentation that lists information about their goods they are importing and pay any tariffs or duties that are due up front at the border.
But under the government’s plan, the requirement to do this would be put on hold for up to six months after import.
Businesses would keep a record of what goods they had imported in their books and pay the tariffs due subsequently.
The government says this is designed to help businesses, with special consideration given to the impact of coronavirus on their ability to prepare.
But Dr Anna Jerzewska, an associate fellow at the UK Trade Policy Observatory and an international customs consultant, told the BBC “the main benefit is to help manage borders”.
Image copyright Reuters
Image caption
Speed is seen as crucial at roll-on, roll-off ports like Dover
At “roll-on roll-off” ports like Dover, which in normal times manages the movement of approximately 2.5 million lorries moving in both directions, “speed is crucial,” she added.
“Any delay in terms of the traffic moving on and off the ferry will cause traffic delays.
“One thing this announcement does is help to manage that so that everything can be done quickly at the border.”
A deal could help ease the demands made on traders and would likely mean that trade between the UK and EU would be completely tariff-free.
But goods would still have to prove that they qualify for the tariff exemption and most checks would still apply.
Plants, animals and more
Extra controls typically apply to plants or animals and the things we make out of them because they pose a larger risk to health.
The UK plans to implement these checks for goods coming into the UK from the EU but, much like customs, only after a delay of six months.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption
Checks on fresh produce from the EU will not kick in for six months
Immediately after the end of transition period, the UK will not be checking most plant and animal products that enter through ports.
Only high risk products will be required to submit a notification that they are going to be imported at the start and from April this will apply to all products of animal origin – like meats and honey – as well as plants.
For products coming from the EU, this will be the first time that these checks have applied. That comes with its challenges.
In a similar way to “no deal” Brexit preparations at the end of last year, the concern centres on potential delays created by new checks and disruptions in supply.
“For a lot of sensitive products, like poultry, fish and pet food, border control agents will open up the lorry, open up products and undertake inspections and that takes time to come back from the laboratory,” said Domonic Goudie, the head of international trade at the Food and Drink Federation, an industry body.
“That threatens ‘just in time’ supply chains but also it starts the clock ticking on product shelf life.”
Difficulties are also related to where these checks take place.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption
Ports are preparing for a big logistical challenge
In the EU, plants and products of animal origin have to enter via border control post where the checks take place and the UK plans to have a similar system.
Many of the UK’s ports lack the correct facilities – or the space – to carry out these checks.
The government has committed to building the necessary infrastructure but this will take time.
Sites need to be identified, planning permission granted and facilities built to the right specification.
And where there isn’t space for these facilities, such as at Dover, where the town and the port are hemmed in by cliffs, the posts will need to be built inland.
Managing exports
The checks necessary to move goods from the UK to the EU are down to European law and the EU’s customs code.
Traders hoping to export their goods to the European Union will have to fill out and submit customs documentation and complete further checks for sensitive goods.
In France, customs authorities have devised a pre-notification system for trucks coming from the UK.
Only lorries that have the right customs paperwork are allowed to board the ferry in Dover or other ports along the south coast of England.
While on board, goods are matched to the lorries they are on and a colour-coded system tells drivers whether they require further checks: Green for “no”, orange for “yes”.
Some ports are concerned that increases in the time that it takes to check lorries could lead to tailbacks and traffic jams.
The possibility that companies not used to completing customs paperwork might turn up at the port without the proper documentation is a further cause for concern.
In Portsmouth, port authorities are working to revive plans to triage trucks arriving at the port that were developed for a “no deal” Brexit.
Portsmouth’s port director Mike Sellers. said the lack of space – there are just 13 lorry-lengths between the port entry and the motorway slipway – means “there will still be a need for pre gate checks”.
“Triage reduces the risk of a lack of trader awareness and freight turning up at our gate without the right documentation and causing delays.”
The size of the logistical challenge depends to an extent on the volume of traffic, he added.
“Predominantly the crossings are booked. As one ferry leaves we don’t have one arriving. Were in a good position in terms of resilience.
“We don’t have the same challenges as Dover or the channel tunnel. They’re on a turn-up-and-go basis.”
Making it work
Alongside details of the checks that will apply after the end of the transition period, the government announced that it was pumping a further £50m into preparing the customs intermediaries sector.
Intermediaries and freight forwarders are the professionals who help guide consignments through customs.
It has been estimated that the UK will need another 50,000 customs agents to deal with the potential increase in declarations for imports and exports.
But the UK government has said it is not able to estimate how many new customs agents have been hired and it is unclear how close the UK is to matching that target.
A lack of agents would “slow everything down” says Robert Keen, director general of the British International Freight Association, an industry body which represents customs intermediaries.
“If the freight volumes were the same this year as they were last year we would certainly need a lot more intermediaries.
“But given the coronavirus crisis it is unclear what volume of trade will be moving.”
Image caption
Gemma Combellack says she was refused a mortgage after criminals stole her identity
“It just seemed to go on and on, it’s just been really upsetting.” Gemma Combellack, 30, is talking about her six month fight to reclaim her identity after it was stolen by criminals last year.
She discovered she’d become a victim of ID theft when she was refused a mortgage over a payday loan in her name that she knew nothing about.
A bank account had also been opened by fraudsters using her identity.
“I’ve been in tears at my desk at work in terms of the impact it’s had on me and my stress levels.
“At the time it made me so angry, the fact that we were having to go through all this trauma and stress and no one could give me answer.
“It’s just that it was so out of our control and that’s the most frustrating thing about it.”
Gemma’s not alone. Last year ID theft happened more than 223,000 times, up 18% on the year before, according to Cifas, the counter fraud organisation which runs the National Fraud Database and works with police and financial institutions to try to tackle fraud.
‘Lucrative business’
Its chief executive, Mike Haley, says there are a number of factors fuelling that rise.
“Criminals are using more sophisticated methods, more of us are doing more things online and we’re all using cash less which is something fraudsters are able to exploit.
“Criminals are targeting ID fraud as a lucrative business model and they’re getting sophisticated in their use of social engineering [on the phone, text messages or on social media] which involves persuading people to give up personal information,” Mr Haley said.
Combined with large scale data breaches and data theft from companies and organisations, “and you have the raw ingredients [for ID theft],” he added.
Very often criminals carrying out these attacks on people in the UK aren’t even based here. “This can all be done at a distance,” he said. “Now you can sit behind a computer anywhere in the world and commit crime on a vast scale.”
Also, there is very little risk of getting caught as “criminals are able to use the anonymity of the internet,” he said.
The rise in ID theft
2015: 169,592
2016: 172,918
2017: 174,523
2018: 189,108
2019: 223,163
Cifas
For Gemma, the personal cost of having her identity stolen ran into thousands of pounds. “In terms of the financial implications we weren’t able to get a mortgage and therefore had to continue to pay rent on our property for six months.
“We’d also instructed a solicitor and had the flat valued so, overall, the costs are looking at the £10,000 mark.
“It just feels like I haven’t progressed in nine months. It feels like we’ve just been really financially hit by something that was completely out of our hands, and it just seems really unfair.”
Image copyright Gemma Combellack
Image caption
Gemma says it took her months of stress and anxiety before she was able to reclaim her identity
Gemma’s also worried about her financial future.
“If it can happen once it can happen again,” she said. “It’s made me really, really nervous about it happening again because there are no signs, you don’t know it’s happening to you.”
Mike Haley says he expects the number of ID thefts to be even higher this year and next as criminals look to exploit people’s vulnerabilities during the coronavirus pandemic.
He said: “During this period criminals haven’t taken a holiday, they’ve been using this time to harvest information.
“They’ve been upping their activity to capitalise on the crisis, we all have our guard down because, understandably, we’re all worried about other things.
The advice from experts is always avoid clicking on links or replying to text messages and phone calls that come out of the blue.
There is also a national campaign trying to raise awareness of fraud and advice for people on how they can try to help themselves to avoid becoming a victim.
You can hear more on BBC Radio 4’s Money Box programme by listening again here.
Passengers arriving at UK airports could soon be able to have the same type of saliva swab test used by the NHS to screen for the coronavirus.
Companies planning a trial of the scheme hope a negative result will allow early release from the government’s 14-day travel quarantine.
People will have to pay around £140 for a test booked online before travel.
The government said the quarantine system aims to keep the transmission rate down and prevent a second wave.
BBC News has been told that a trial is expected to begin in a couple of weeks at a major UK airport.
The aim is to initially test 500 passengers a day.
Under the proposals, passengers would visit an airport clinic after immigration to take a test and self-isolate at home until they received the result.
A negative result could take as little as five hours. However, the aim will be to notify every participant within 24 hours.
‘Win-win’
Jason Holt, boss of ground-handling firm Swissport UK, which is one of two companies involved, described the scheme as a “win-win”.
“We accept that the quarantine is in place,” he said. “This will complement it and help put UK aviation back on its feet”.
“If they [the passenger] were Covid-negative we would ask the government to consider them to be free from the quarantine and they would have 13 days-plus avoiding the quarantine”, he told the BBC.
The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) swab test being used is the type in operation at NHS facilities across the UK.
Nurses will carry out the airport swab tests at clinics run by medical firm Collinson.
The company says the trial is about “modifying” the quarantine.
“People will be able to go on holiday again”, Dr Simon Worrell, Collinson’s Global Medical Director, said.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption
Greece is among the countries to introduce swab testing for passengers arriving at its airports
Dr Worrell hopes it will bring “a degree of normality” back and show people “that we’ve really turned the corner.”
The two companies are in discussions with several UK airports and the government.
However ministers have yet to confirm people who receive a “negative” result won’t have to self-isolate for the remainder of their two weeks.
“The critical thing is to get government approval”, said Scott Sunderman, managing director of medical and security assistance at Collinson.
The Department for Transport said all passengers arriving in the UK – including UK nationals – are being asked to provide an address where they will self-isolate for 14 days.
“As the Home Secretary made clear when she announced these measures, they will be kept under review and informed by science to keep us all safe,” a spokesperson said.
Collinson said the testing could be scaled-up after the pilot. It believes it could, at some point in the future, potentially test “hundreds of thousands” of people a day arriving into the UK.
Swab tests for passengers are already in place at other airports abroad like Hong Kong and Vienna.
Another trial began at Jersey airport earlier this month.
The UK’s 14-day quarantine policy, enforced surprise visits and fines of could be fined up to £1,000 in England, has been described by some aviation industry bosses as a “stunt” and unenforceable.
The government has said it plans to announce wider exemptions to the quarantine by the end of June.
Officials are negotiating a number of “travel corridors” with countries that have low infection rates.
They would allow passengers travelling in both directions between the UK and certain countries to avoid having to self-isolate after each journey.
Some construction firms still can’t be trusted to make buildings that are safe from fire, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) has warned.
Its safety head Nick Coombe said some building firms had barely improved since the Grenfell disaster in 2017.
The Federation of Master Builders, which represents small contractors, said it was trying to create a safer industry, with licensed firms.
Build UK, which represents the wider industry, declined to comment.
The National Fire Chiefs Council said the construction industry was “broken” and couldn’t be trusted to follow rules.
Grenfell fears prevent timber building boom
Mr Coombe said many reforms were needed, especially to building regulations, which allow builders to choose an inspector to certify their building safety.
The current inspection system was devised by the government in the 1980s to speed up the timetable for buildings.
Ministers were concerned that local council inspectors were delaying projects, so they allowed private inspectors to compete on speed of approval and cost.
Tower block “free-for-all”
The builder effectively employs the safety inspector: critics say it’s like students choosing who they’ll pay to mark their exams – except people’s lives are risk.
Mr Coombe said: “This doesn’t drive standards up. It means the developer controls the amount of visits from a building inspector. We have had people shopping around for building controllers who would accept their work.
“If you build a house extension the local authority are all over you. If you build a tower block or a shopping centre there’s a free-for-all.”
Mr Coombe’s comments amplify a recent NFCC submission to a post-Grenfell review of building regulations.
In that document the fire council warn: “It is our opinion that some within the wider industry are not acting responsibly when designing and approving buildings.
“Banning things [such as flammable cladding] is no guarantee that people will follow the rules, and it is our view that much of the combustible cladding on the side of buildings is already banned under the current regime.
“To date, there is little evidence of a culture change [since Grenfell]. There is much more to be done to ensure the safety of building occupants, now and in the future.
“NFCC advocates that the current building control system is overhauled to ensure that it is robust, independent of client and market influence, and has sufficient teeth to enforce appropriate fire safety standards as necessary.”
Safety disagreements
The response to the horrific Grenfell fire has had some side-effects. Some building firms report huge delays to construction, while developers, architects and builders argue over liability for safety.
The owner of one building firm, who didn’t want to be named, said: “Building projects are being dictated to now by the insurers. Premiums have shot up. There’s a passing of responsibility right down the food chain [from developers to architects to contractors to sub-contractors].”
The Grenfell effect has also deterred architects from designing buildings with wood in the wall construction.
Governments in the USA, Canada and Europe are promoting the use of timber in buildings to help combat climate change, because it locks in CO2 that trees have taken from the atmosphere.
The USA, for instance, has certified 17-storey wood framed buildings after extensive fire testing.
Meanwhile in the UK the government proposes that the maximum height of buildings with wood in the walls to be no more than four storeys.
Fires tests needed
Mr Coombe said the NFCC didn’t want to block the use of wood in buildings, but insisted that fire safety tests should be done in the UK to prove the safety of design.
A government spokesperson said: “The Grenfell Tower fire was a devastating tragedy and we are as determined as ever to ensure this can never happen again.
“Safety is paramount – that’s why we’ve announced the biggest changes to building safety in a generation which will deliver meaningful and lasting change for residents.
“We are carefully considering the responses to our consultation and will respond in due course.”
Brian Berry from the Federation of Master Builders said: “Our members, the vast majority of whom work in domestic repair and maintenance or are small house builders, know that quality and safety must be at the heart of building projects.
“We are leading moves to create a more professionalised industry and advocate licensing of all UK construction companies.”
BuildUK has a very broad membership across the industry and on some issues its members find it difficult to reach a consensus.
Image caption
Kenya Williams is trying to make it on $200 a week
Kenya Williams doesn’t know what to do. For 22 years, she’s worked as a nanny in New York. But when coronavirus swept through the city in March, her employers asked her to stay home.
At the start, they covered the majority of her salary. In June, they cut her wages to just $200 (£159) a week – less than a third of her usual rate.
Ms Williams is paid off the books, so she can’t file for unemployment without risking an audit of her employers. She’s not sure where to turn.
“It’s really hard,” she says. “Do I leave them and find new work? Do I find something temporary?”
“I’m still smiling because that’s all I can do.”
As lockdowns lift across the US, people are starting to go back to work. But millions more remain at home, unsure when – or if – they will return.
For America’s 2.2 million domestic workers, the majority of them women of colour, the crisis is particularly acute.
Industry in crisis
More than 70% saw their incomes cut or jobs eliminated at the start of the pandemic, according to a survey by the National Domestic Workers Alliance, an organisation that advocates for nannies, housecleaners and home health aides.
With wages that average about $12 (£9.50) an hour, few have robust financial cushions. And because of informal work arrangements or immigration status, many are not eligible for the relief offered by the government.
“We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of women who have absolutely no access to protection or support,” says Tatiana Bejar, a New York City-based organiser at Hand-in-Hand, a non-profit that advocates for domestic workers.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption
The pandemic has upended childcare in the US
Ms Williams prefers to receive her wages under the table because it allows her to qualify for public health insurance rather than face the prohibitively expensive private market. She still pays taxes on income at the end of the year.
The pandemic hasn’t changed changed her mind, she says, but it has reminded her of the risks.
“Our profession, I found out during this time, we just don’t matter. We have to fight so hard for things that other people get easily,” she says. “I would just like to be able to be like, ‘Ok, I know I’ll be ok to some extent.”
Disproportionate impact
The hardship faced by Ms Williams matches global patterns, which show women, minorities and people working in the informal economy have been hit particularly hard by the lockdowns. In the US, the unemployment rates among Hispanic and black women approached 20% last month – nearly double that of white men.
The uneven economic impact is likely to add “significantly to existing vulnerabilities and inequalities”, the International Labor Organization warned this spring. It called on governments to respond by increasing efforts to extend social protections to those people, like maids and nannies, whose work often occurs beyond the reach of government rules.
Four out of five jobs affected by virus globally
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But the response so far doesn’t bode well for those efforts. In the US, many shutdown orders didn’t think to address in-home help at all. Official guidance on how to handle return has also been sparse.
Hand-in-Hand, which aims its actions at employers, has urged families to keep nannies at home at full pay, but the official ambiguity means figuring out what to do has often been a fraught family-by-family decision.
“Just because domestic work continues to be invisible, therefore employers of them were also invisible,” Ms Bejar says.
Trade-offs
Image copyright Sandra
Image caption
Sandra continued to work despite the health risks
Sandra, an undocumented immigrant who has worked as a nanny in New York for 20 years, asked to continue working, after her partner, a construction worker, lost his job. Her family in Guatemala – her 87-year-old father, daughter and granddaughter – depend on her too.
At first, she commuted by subway, but she grew so worried about infection she started to get physically ill. Eventually, she raised the issue with her employer, who agreed to pick her up and cover the cost of a taxi for the return trip.
“Even if I wanted to stay home, I couldn’t do it,” she says. “I have to keep going.”
Formal protections
Such trade-offs speak to the need for bigger changes, says Haeyoung Yoon, policy director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
The group has proposed a national bill, which would grant domestic workers labour protections, such as a right to paid sick days. But the bill faces long odds.
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Currently, the US has no national law requiring paid sick leave – even for workers in the formal sector. While Congress introduced some emergency leave due to the pandemic, those requirements were temporary.
“The coronavirus pandemic has really put a spotlight on the structural inequities that workers were already living through,” Ms Yoon says. “We need to really address these issues at a structural level so that workers are able to have access to good wages and good working conditions.”
“But just because working people are reminded, doesn’t mean that our policymakers are going to legislate and change policies to meet the needs,” she adds.
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With schools shut, it has put a spotlight on the role of childcare
Ms Williams says she hopes pressure for change is growing.
Two years ago, she joined the Carroll Garden Nanny Association, an activist group, drawn primarily by the offer of CPR training.
But her interest in wider employment matters has blossomed and she says an uptick in participation in the group’s chats and Zoom calls since the start of the pandemic suggests she’s not alone.
Ms Williams knows much of the new interest reflects the current crisis, and people at home with time on their hands.
“I only hope that when things get back to some type of normalcy that they stay focused,” she says.
Plastock, a UK plastics company, has developed a personal, mobile plastic shield for use by the public during coronavirus, called the Persona 360 or “Tube Tube”. At the moment it has to be ordered on a bespoke basis and costs more than £100, but if there’s enough interest the company plans to mass produce it.
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The airline said it had not received enough help from the Irish government
Irish airline Aer Lingus is set to cut as many as 500 jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The carrier said it had been operating at five percent of its capacity due to lockdown restrictions.
It said the uncertainty caused by the 14-day quarantine period for arrivals had also contributed.
The company said the pandemic had had a “catastrophic’ effect on its business, saying the Irish government could have done more to help.
“Ireland has failed to take steps that other European member states have taken they have progressively restored transport services and connectivity in response to a European Commission invitation to do so,” said an airline statement.
“The requirement to reduce the size of the airline in response to the crisis means that today Aer Lingus has issued a notification to the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection regarding proposed collective redundancies in the airline.
“Aer Lingus has informed the minister that headcount reductions of up to 500 employees across the business are anticipated,” it continued.
The trade union Fórsa said it would seek talks with Aer Lingus management, saying its priority was to minimise job losses.
