Winding down PUP raises fundamental issues on unemployment payments

The overall generosity of the PUP can be justified by the very large numbers of people affected by the pandemic restrictions

Minimal or no income support would have alienated many people, fractured social cohesion, and reduced the effectiveness of the anti-Covid measures. 

The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) was an excellent idea when introduced in March 2020 in response to the unemployment impact of the covid lockdown. 

Society faced the impact of hundreds of thousands of workers being suddenly thrown into unemployment and left without income as enterprises and sectors were closed.