Soaring unemployment ‘affecting families’

Thousands of families will be left needing debt help due to soaring unemployment figures, it has been warned.

Kate Green, the chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, has noted that many households are being affected by redundancies.

It comes after official figures revealed an increase in the amount of jobless people to almost two million.

Ms Green called for families to be put first in the government’s next support package.

Referring to the recent rescue of banks and aid offered to businesses, she said: “We’ve seen boardrooms bailed out … but most financial crisis meetings are taking place around the kitchen table.”

She noted that extra cash given to families will then be spent on goods or services from local businesses, which in turn would support the economy.

Meanwhile, Age Concern has warned that older people could be the worst-affected group to be hit by rising unemployment.

By Jamie Price