The HEAT assessment reports are a series of publications from the United Nations Sub-Regional Team in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean which form part of the combined offer from the UN system to support countries in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Coordinated by the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF and UN Women, the new HEAT report series will cover 8 Eastern Caribbean islands, providing deep insights, strategic recommendations and a framework to promote relief and resilience.

The  report outlines a number of recommendations including: expanding the time frame for COVID-19 related unemployment benefits and covering the newly unemployed; providing liquidity for small firms with a Government guarantee scheme to backstop MSMEs through the crisis; expanding the School Feeding Programme to cover poor students in all schools and extend the benefit of EC $200 per month for each child; funding the short-run increase in expenditure using a temporary increase in the Interim Stabilisation Levy; establishing a shelter for women victims of gender-based violence, exploring partnerships with the tourism sector; implementing a permanent unemployment benefit fund, financed through a limited contribution increase by workers and employers to the Anguilla Social Security Board (ASSB); and amend the Anguilla Framework for Fiscal Sustainability and Development to account for the COVID-19 (and similar national crises), allowing for fiscal space and credit expansion.