Thousands with long Covid express fear of benefit cuts

A senior lecturer forced to end her career after long Covid left her housebound has criticised the government’s pledge to slash the UK’s welfare bill, which she and so many others like her rely on.

- TARA COBHAM

Sarah Barley-McMullen, 55, told The Independent that she is “dreading” news of the proposed cuts because, as a claimant, “the little independence I have could be taken away”. She accused the government of “ignoring” the thousands of long Covid sufferers, many of whom need benefits to survive.

The 55-year-old, who is now a campaigner and volunteers with the charity Long Covid SOS, suffers symptoms including brain damage, vision and hearing loss, as well as tinnitus, all of which means she can no longer cry or pursue her love of singing.

The combined effects of being immunocompromised and being in pain, which has left her unable to walk unassisted, has meant she does not often leave her house. “It’s changed my world beyond recognition,” she said, describing how she was forced to take ill health retirement and rely on her wife’s salary from March 2022. “[It] was devastating really, because that was my whole 17-year career as an academic that Covid had just taken from me,” she said.

Ms Barley-McMullen is far from alone. Five years on from when the pandemic hit, two million people in England and Scotland are estimated to have long Covid, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Due to the 200 symptoms associated with the illness, it is difficult to get accurate data on how many sufferers are out of work and how many of those are claiming benefit.