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The pandemic has had profound consequences for incomes, spending, saving, and financial distress. In this event we brought together evidence from a number of recent pieces of research which use bank account data to shed light on these issues.

IFS researchers quantified the effects on different households’ incomes, how these have fed through to spending and saving decisions, as well as the ability to keep up with bills. They also investigated the effects of Covid case prevalence itself, public health restrictions, and the government’s income support policies – furlough, the self-employment grant, and Universal Credit.