Millions of people around the world have been hit by long COVID. And, in addition to the negative health effects, patients also suffer a financial hit that could impact future generations, a new study reveals.
The COVID pandemic has been the defining global challenge of the decade, killing as many as 21 million people, according to some estimates. Nevertheless, for most of us, the crisis now feels like it has run its course, particularly as the World Health Organisation announced in 2023 that COVID was no longer a public health emergency.
However, for those with long COVID, the pandemic is far from over, as they experience ongoing breathlessness, fatigue, pain, anxiety, depression and neurological issues, among other symptoms, months and even years after contracting COVID.
In turn, these symptoms can have a negative effect on people’s day-to-day lives, including their ability to work. An international survey from 2021 found that 45 per cent of people with long COVID had reduced their workloads and 22 per cent were not working at the time because of the condition. A Swedish study around the same time found that it was common for people to take extended sick leave due to long COVID.
Financial hit
As a result of this impact on people’s work, as well as by delaying unemployed people finding work and adding costs for medication and care, it stands to reason that long COVID would see people experience financial disruption. However, relatively little evidence has been produced to ascertain whether this is the case.
Our research fills this gap, exploring the link between long COVID and people’s financial wellbeing, likelihood of making new welfare benefit claims, and changes in household income levels. This is important because, according to our estimates, 12.5 per cent of the UK population is affected (or has been affected) by long COVID, which equates to over eight million people – enough to have a significant economic impact.
For our investigation, we analysed four UK longitudinal population studies, including data on people with long COVID and comparative pre-pandemic data. The studies are the Millennium Cohort Study, Next Steps, the 1970 British Cohort Study, and the 1958 National Child Development Study.
Disruptive effect
Starting with self-assessed financial wellbeing, we found that long COVID was associated with being financially worse-off compared with people’s pre-pandemic status. Our findings suggest that the risk of being financially worse-off increased with the length of time people’s ability to function as normal was impeded by COVID. In particular, the risk was greatest for those whose symptoms lasted longer than 12 weeks.
We also found that long COVID was associated with an increased rate of new welfare benefit claims being made, with the greatest risk again being for those with symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks. The most common claim was for Universal Credit, which includes housing support, income support and support for jobseekers, followed by the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme. This highlights the impact long COVID has on people’s financial baseline.
There is a risk that the financial impact of long COVID will have a knock-on negative impact on patients’ family members
Finally, we found that long COVID was potentially associated with a decrease in household income of at least five per cent. However, the data supporting this finding was not strong enough to state it with certainty – it is also possible there is no association.
Importantly, all of our findings were broadly similar when adjusted for age, sex and education level, suggesting that they are relevant across the population as a whole.
Policy implications
Our findings have serious policy implications for the UK’s ongoing handling of the impact of the COVID pandemic. Given that long COVID affects so many people, and that – as we have shown – it results in significant financial disruption, there is a real case to be made for stronger employment protection measures and financial support schemes for those with the condition.
Without intervention, there is a risk that the financial impact of long COVID will have a knock-on negative impact on patients’ family members. This means the financial hit could affect subsequent generations, with a snowball effect costing society much more in the long run. This includes a loss of productivity because of family members reducing their working hours due to caring responsibilities, and an increased resource and capacity burden on the healthcare system.
It remains to be seen whether or not government-level intervention will be put in place, but our findings show that there is a need for it. Without targeted support, particularly in the wider context of the ongoing cost of living crisis, we risk abandoning people with long COVID to ongoing financial disruption and, potentially, generational inequality.
This article draws on findings from "Long COVID and Financial Outcomes: Evidence from Four Longitudinal Population Surveys" by Rebecca Rhead (King's College London), Jacques Wels (University College London), Bettina Moltrecht (UCL Institute of Education Centre for Longitudinal Studies), Richard John Shaw (University of Glasgow), Richard Silverwood (University College London), Jingmin Zhu (Imperial College London), Alun Hughes (University College London), Nishi Chaturvedi (University College London), Evangelia Demou (University of Glasgow), Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi (University of Glasgow) and George Ploubidis (UCL Institute of Education Centre for Longitudinal Studies).
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