Wednesday 7th of October 2009
Individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) could be of interest to people living with one of Britain’s record number of unemployed.
A new report by the Recruitment and Employment Federation (REC) suggests a slight recovery from the economic downturn is underway, but employment figures have fallen harshly in the last year.
Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 72.5 per cent of the population was in work in the three months to July, the lowest figure since 1997, so plenty of households could be suffering from a reduced income.
An IVA restructures a debtor’s repayments to creditors by creating manageable monthly sums that, if maintained, could lead to being debt-free.
Debt could rocket in homes with an unemployed person as there may be a temptation to rely on credit cards to see out the difficult period.
Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC, said: "The labour market is still very fragile and we are concerned that recovery from this recession might be ‘jobs light’."
By Hayley Jones
- House price rise 'may not indicate recovery'
- Equity release 'needs to be increased'
- Need for IVA help could increase as expert predicts reduction in lending
- Government announces 'breathing space' for those needing IVA help
- Lack of subprime lending creating need for IVA help, expert suggests
- Households face 3% pay cut
