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Are we ‘all in this together’? Reflecting on the continuities between austerity and the COVID-19 crisis

This chapter reflects on some of the early evidence to emerge of the uneven social and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and draws out the continuities between these impacts and those of the UK’s 2010–20 decade of austerity. Focusing on three groups - young people, women and frontline public sector workers - the chapter argues that austerity may have amplified the effects of the pandemic on these groups. The chapter also considers how the crisis provoked by the pandemic may have temporarily renewed our understanding of the integral role that both public services and third sector organisations play in supporting societal wellbeing. However, it cautions against viewing temporary re-recognition as a sign of a broader retraction of neoliberal austerity politics.