Covid and unemployment: Woman made redundant three times in pandemic

Annabelle Smith said she was using her time to develop skills and do further study

A woman who has been made redundant three times in less than 12 months during the pandemic believes she has "fallen through the cracks".

Annabelle Smith, 29, lost her job as a marketing manager in March, then from a property company in May and finally as an assistant gym manager in December.

"I didn't think I'd be made redundant once during my working life let alone three times," she said.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said every job lost is "a tragedy".

Ms Smith said she was going into debt, with each subsequent job she took meaning a drop in salary.

During periods of furlough she was paid 80% of her wage before being made redundant with no payment.

Originally from London, she has a rental contract on a studio apartment in Leeds city centre which runs until April.

"I've been independent for years, I left home at 18, and it would be a huge impact to have to go back home to my family and uproot my life," she said.

Now looking for a new job, Ms Smith says she is a hard worker and "a grafter, I want to work," but "so many people are fighting for the same thing".

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"I can't survive on benefits and I don't know when lockdown is going to finish, I am going to go into debt. I am going to have to be very careful with money," she says.

"I am giving up the luxuries like cooking a good meal and it is those things that are nice and help you during lockdown.

"It is going to take a longer road to get out of here than we thought when it started", she said.

Unemployment in numbers

• The Office for National Statistics said there were 1.72 million without jobs - the highest level in five years

• The latest figures show 139,000 people are unemployed in Yorkshire and the Humber - a rate of 5.1% (just above the national average)

• The number of people out of work in the UK has continued to rise, with those aged 25 to 34 facing the biggest risk of losing their jobs

• The redundancy rate of people in that age group saw a fivefold increase on the same period a year earlier

• The figures cover the three months to November 2020.

Source ONS.

Chancellor Mr Sunak has said the government is "throwing everything" at helping businesses and individuals.

Ms Smith said the rejections after her job applications were "hard to take" and she worried employers would think she was overqualified for some jobs.

"Hopefully somebody will understand and say 'I like the sound of her' and offer me a job", she said.

"It's that feeling of 'why me?' and 'how's this happened again?'

"I am not blaming anyone. I understand all my employers' decisions", she added.

Simon Betts, from the Department of Work and Pensions in Leeds, said: "Numbers of claims for benefit are increasing and we are putting additional provision in place to help.

"We have job entry targeted support after 13 weeks of unemployment and job finding support available from day one - both to get people back into work.

"There is also extra training available for professional roles and all can be got by speaking to a work coach at a local Job Centre."