A new report has shown that up to 800,000 extremely vulnerable people may have missed out on vital Covid-19 support.
MPs on the Public Accounts Committee criticised the government’s scheme supporting those who have ‘shielded’.
The report suggests up to 800,000 extremely vulnerable people ‘slipped through the net’ and missed out on support.
With the selective application of ‘at-risk’ criteria, we saw these vulnerable people struggle to access food and care at the start of the pandemic.
The Public Accounts Committee also said there was no pre-planning for shielding the clinically vulnerable.
Due to lack of planning, ministers took too long to identify those in need with any urgency.
PAC’s criticism states the plans were ‘quickly drawn up’ and had problems including ‘poor data and a lack of joined up systems that we see all too often’.
Eventually hundreds of thousands of people were added to local lists based on a ‘postcode lottery’ from local health bodies.
However there have still been many people left without the support they needed.
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