Today (Thursday 15 January 2026) Parliament did something that matters deeply to the people we support every day.
In the House of Commons Chamber, MPs held a Backbench Business debate on financial support for small businesses and individuals during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a focus on those who were excluded from parity of support.
As Head of Member Welfare at ExcludedUK, I have sat with people in the aftermath of that exclusion. Not in the abstract, not as a policy footnote, but as a lived reality that has reshaped lives, families, businesses, and health.
Dutifully paid in, deliberately left out
Excluded people did what society asks of them. They worked, they paid their taxes, they played by the rules. Then, when Covid hit and the country quite rightly stepped in to protect jobs and livelihoods, far too many were left out by design.
For many, the impact was immediate and brutal. For others, it has been a slow, relentless unravelling: debt piling up, businesses collapsing, relationships under strain, mental health deteriorating. It is not over for them. It is still happening now.
Lives and livelihoods have been decimated.
And heartbreakingly, more than 40 people connected to our community are no longer with us, because they saw no other way out.
Thank you, and what happens next
This debate was secured by Manuela Perteghella MP.
Thank you @mp4stratford, for securing this debate.
Thank you as well to every MP who spoke. When MPs stand up in the Chamber and put these realities on the record, it tells excluded constituents that they are not invisible, and that their suffering is not being brushed aside or rewritten.
If you missed the debate, you can watch it back via Parliamentlive, and we encourage you to do so and share it with colleagues. https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/e7e2379c-22ab-40a2-8ce1-0db9330108c1
A clear invitation to MPs and Peers
Debates are vital, but they are not the finish line. They are the point where we turn acknowledgement into action.
We now look ahead to the next step in Parliament.
We warmly invite MPs and Members of the House of Lords to join us at the ‘Gaps in Covid-19 Financial Support’ APPG Annual General Meeting:
Wednesday 11th February 2026
16:30
Portcullis House, Room R
If you would like to attend, please email admin@excludeduk.org.
If you are struggling, you are not alone
If reading this brings things back for you, please reach out. You deserve support, and you do not have to carry this on your own. If you are in crisis or feel at risk, please contact Samaritans on 116 123 (free, 24/7) or call 999 in an emergency.
For everyone else, please keep standing with excluded constituents. Keep asking questions. Keep pushing for fairness. Keep showing up.
Jennifer Griffiths
Head of Member Welfare, ExcludedUK
www.excludeduk.org
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