Studying the Office for National Statistics’ GDP figures for April through to June, it is difficult to get a handle on the scale of the impact Covid-19 has had on the UK economy – even when it is written there in black and white.

You have to look beyond the 20.4 per cent drop, beyond the fact this is the “largest recession on record”, and consider what this actually means for individuals, whether  it is their employment, their ability to keep paying the mortgage or rent, the government support they may or may not have had, or the overall impact on their finances.

National statistics of this persuasion do not really tell you the whole story, and cannot possibly reveal just what the pandemic and accompanying lockdown have meant for individuals – nor what they will continue to mean, because as sure as eggs is eggs we are not out of this crisis by any means.

Discernible shift

Advisers and their clients have, of course, also been affected on an individual level, and the mortgage market they are now able to access has discernibly shifted because of Covid-19.

The drop in GDP, the increase in unemployment, the uncertain job prospects for those who have been furloughed, the ability to survive on government support, and much more, are all being factored in to lenders’ product and criteria choices, and the decisions they are making about individuals when it comes to their mortgage finances.

Even with the chancellor’s gift of a stamp duty holiday, there are still no guarantees of those who might wish to buy or sell being able to do so, especially if they are looking for higher-LTV mortgages.

Here we have, writ large, the impact of Covid-19 on the individual – whether it is the ability to secure an ongoing mortgage payment holiday and what this might mean for them in terms of securing credit in the future, or the ability to remortgage either now or in the months ahead if they are deemed to be too risky, or finding a first-time buyer scheme or product that might have seemed well within reach at the start of the year but is now looking distant.

With all of these considerations to take into account, plus what this means in other areas such as protection want and need, or delivering the right legal advice in areas such as conveyancing, it is no wonder that advice requirements are high.

Reaching those in need

The next step is how you can impart that advice, how you signpost those in need to your firm, how you provide the right solutions in all product areas, and how you help those who may feel they have nowhere else to turn.

The headlines might be secured by the ‘big picture’ macro-economic impact, but drill down to the individual and you find the real consequences of this devastating event.

It is up to us as an industry, as well as our trade bodies and government representatives, to tell consumers how to access our services. Otherwise we could be in danger of making a bad situation much worse, when in fact the opportunity exists to make it much better for many people.

Mark Snape is managing director of Broker Conveyancing