This may free up resources that could be used to help those with insufficient savings. These systems have an essential role to play in addressing persistent poverty, protecting households against income and health-related risks and tackling income inequality. It revealed that having social protection systems in place before a crisis strengthens the effectiveness of social policy responses to changing needs. The first is to ensure that social protection systems provide adequate support to those who need it in a context of limited fiscal resources and weak administration and a high rate of informal work that leaves large parts of the workforce uncovered by the main instruments of social policy.