New Vulnerable Research
As a client-centric organisation Good Shepherd consistently look to understand how the changing world is impacting the women, girls and families we serve. This knowledge helps us to build programs and services that best position us meet the needs of clients where they are today and advocate for systems and policies that will support their empowerment tomorrow.
In 2020 we first saw the emergence of the “newly vulnerable” a group who found themselves in need of services for the first time due to the pandemic. We had hoped that a pandemic recovery in 2021 would see a decrease in the emergence of newly vulnerable individuals, however anecdotal reports from our front-line workers led us to believe that may not be the case.
Good Shepherd commissioned Roy Morgan to help us better understand the Newly Vulnerable and their experiences navigating support systems. The findings have confirmed what we had suspected. Rather than declining, the Newly Vulnerable cohort increased in 2021 at a similar rate to what we had seen in 2020.
Our estimate is that this group comprises about a quarter of all 14+ Australians, and over 40% of working Australians. They have seen negative employment impacts resulting from COVID-19, in turn affecting their household finances.
This report provides in-depth analysis of these people, and their experience of navigating support systems to address their needs arising from financial stress.
