No young woman left behind

Young women need the £20 lifeline

1.5 million young women have lost income since the start of the pandemic with many claiming benefits for the first time. Despite this the government are cutting Universal Credit by £20 a week at the end of September.

The £20 Universal Credit uplift the government introduced in April 2020 has been a lifeline for 1000s of young women. It has been the difference between young women getting medications, feeding their children, buying period products and even being able to remove themselves from abusive situations. Those receiving Carer’s Allowance and other support didn’t benefit.

A young woman stands infront of a brick building. She holds her hair out of her eyes with one hand. She looks confident yet defiant.

Write to the Chancellor to stop benefit cuts

At the end of September, the government are planning to cut Universal Credit by £20 a week, to pre-pandemic levels.

Will you email the Chancellor today and let him know that it isn’t too late to change his mind?

Email the Chancellor now

Our research

A year on from the first Covid-19 lockdown, 86% of young women said they felt that the government response to the pandemic had made things worse for people like them.

Our report, Lockdown One Year On shows the deep impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on society and the devastating effect on young women’s work, finances, and mental health.

Read the report

Hear from young women

In this video made in April 2020, we meet Amie, Freya, Mehvash and Morgan. They talk honestly about the impact the pandemic has had on their lives.

No young woman left behind video transcript

Our calls to the government

Unemployment is rising and increasing number of young women are having to claim benefits, often for the first time.  

That’s why we’re calling for the government to make the £20 uplift to Universal Credit permanent and also extend it to other benefits, including Carer’s Allowance. 

We also want the government to ensure it understands how young women are being affected by Covid-19 and to set out a clear jobs plan for young women, with a greater focus on investing in jobs and training. 

As part of this we’re calling on the government to: 

  • Make employers publish their redundancy data by protected characteristics like age, sex or race so we can see who is being impacted by job losses. 
  • Ensure no young woman is left behind in the recovery by investing in jobs and training, supporting young women into work and ensuring Government schemes, including Kickstart, deliver for young women.
  • Build back better by tackling existing workplace inequalities and discrimination by improving conditions for young women in low paid work.

Explore the issues

Woman at a microphone

Smashing career stereotypes

We want to break down barriers to opportunities for young women, so they can smash career stereotypes and be anything they want to be.

Young women working together at a table

Building equal workplaces

Young women face discrimination at work every day. A third of young women have faced discrimination when looking for work or while working.

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