Migrant Remittances and Covid-19: Practices of Care during Crisis

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It is predicted that Covid-19 will wipe out US$100 billion in remittance flows, constituting the sharpest contraction since tracking began in 1980 (World Bank, 2020). This decline, driven by reduced capacities among sending communities, is coinciding with escalating need as the pandemic takes hold in many receiving communities. Given its sizeable migrant population, the UK is a significant originator of remittance flows (Migration Observatory, 2020). The British government's response to this remittance emergency aligns with global efforts to 'keep remittances moving' (DFID, 2020). While important, this raises significant questions about the extent to which policy is able to support the resilience of remittances and respond to this unprecedented challenge. Situating remittances as practices of care, and focusing on Somali, Brazilian and Indian migrants in London, Cardiff and Glasgow, this project addresses three lacunae. First, it examines shifts in the nature, patterns and direction of remittance sending in response to Covid-19, tracking the impact of the pandemic on migrants' labour market experiences, BAME migrants' vulnerability to the virus and the needs of transnational families. Second, it redresses a bias in remittance studies by exploring the implications of disrupted remittance flows on migrant (as opposed to recipient) wellbeing. Third, it investigates how migrants' access to remittance services has been affected by Covid-19, and the impacts of increased digitisation of financial services. Deploying mixed methods combining digital methods with secondary analysis, the project's findings will be immediately relevant to cross-HMG work on protecting remittance corridors, and government and NGO stakeholders working with migrant populations.