Our research began in September 2019, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and continued until July 2020, four months into the first lockdown period in the UK. This gave us a unique insight into poverty and social exclusion in rural Britain both immediately before and during the pandemic. Using the evidence from our fieldwork and other research published after the end of our data collection period, this chapter explores the impacts of COVID-19 on rural people experiencing financial hardship.

The lived experiences presented in the three previous chapters highlight the many ways, both positive and negative, that living in a rural area affects local opportunity structures. The cost of living in rural, remote and island areas is substantially higher than in towns and cities, partly because of distance to services, but also because of the costs of heating homes which are often off grid and less well insulated. Access to well-paid work and secure, affordable housing may be more difficult in rural areas without an income from commuting or telecommuting. Access to public services is also likely to present challenges and people eligible for welfare benefits face barriers of distant sources of advice and help, and centralisation of welfare support, inaccessible assessment centres and perhaps social stigma. Private, public and third-sector organisations all face difficulties in reaching into rural areas to offer their support and, while digitalisation may help them to reach some people, this can exclude others without good connectivity or access to devices. These barriers all relate to distance, mobility and access and may be more severe in remote and island areas, like in Harris and the North Tyne valley.

Experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic have brought all these rural vulnerabilities into sharp relief.