Life after lockdown: Tackling loneliness among those left behind (June 2020).
This report from the British Red Cross finds that the Covid-19 crisis has made loneliness worse, with some people more affected than others.
Life after lockdown draws on findings from a collection of national-level polling, interviews and evaluations from British Red Cross services during Covid-19.
The key findings include:
. Before the Covid-19 crisis one in five people reported being often or always lonely. Now, 41 per cent of UK adults report feeling lonelier since lockdown.
. More than a quarter of UK adults agree that they worry something will happen to them and no one will notice.
. Thirty-one per cent of UK adults often feel alone, as though they have no one to turn to.
. A third of UK adults haven’t had a meaningful conversation in the last week.
. The loneliest people feel the least able to cope and recover from the Covid-19 crisis.
. A lack of meaningful contact, a reduction of informal and formal support, and increased anxiety have exacerbated loneliness during the crisis.
. Some communities have been at greater risk of loneliness than others – people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, parents with young children, young people, those living with long term physical and mental health conditions, people on lower incomes and those with limited access to digital technology and the internet.
. Covid-19 has also meant a loss in social support for refugees and people seeking asylum.
