Children in St Helen’s, in the United Reformed Church’s (URC) Mersey Synod, have been delivering care parcels to the vulnerable in their community.

Becky Taylor, a Christ Church Haydock URC Girl’s Brigade leader, explained that although the children weren’t meeting due to social distancing rules, they wanted to do something to help.

The United Reformed Church (URC) General Assembly Moderators have joined anti-poverty campaigners in adding their names to an open letter about the “two-child rule” which limits benefit payments to families.

Published in The Guardian newspaper, the letter, coordinated by the All Kids Count coalition, states that the tens of thousands of families who have had to claim Universal Credit (UC) in the past few weeks because of Covid-19, will discover that there is no support in UC for their third or subsequent child if that child was born after April 2017, when the 'two-child limit' policy came into effect. Only that child's older siblings will be eligible for child allowances in UC to meet their needs. 

Thousands of community-spirited people have come forward to offer help and support to those in need in Surrey Heath.

Surrey Heath Prepared, a community action group based at High Cross Church (a church partnership of the United Reformed Church (URC) and the Methodist Church), was set up in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Since the action group began, more than 3,000 volunteers have registered and more than 1,200 requests for help have been fulfilled by the army of helpers.