The UK is in a recession for the first time in 11 years, and there are some suggestions unemployment could hit more than three million in the near future. 

The last time unemployment reached these heights, was in the recession of the 1980s.

The number of people in work has already dropped by 220,000 quarter-on-quarter, according to the latest Office for National Statistics.

This was the largest quarterly decrease since May to July 2009, at the height of the financial crisis.

The figures do not include the high number of people who are furloughed, those on zero-hours contracts but not getting shifts, or people on temporary unpaid leave from a job, as they still count as being in employment. 

The Welsh government has already come up with a short-term solution for renters facing financial hardship by offering tenants loans to pay off rent arrears built during the Covid -19 pandemic, while a new Tenant Hardship Loan Fund will be open later in the Autumn in Scotland.

But no compatible measures have been announced by the UK government for tenants and landlords in England. 

Chris Norris, policy director for the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), said: “We welcome the announcement [of tenants loans in Scotland] which follows similar steps taken in Wales and we call on the UK government to introduce similar help for tenants in England. The best way to prevent repossessions is to tackle the root cause by ensuring tenants are able to pay their rent.

“Although landlords have been doing all they can to support tenants struggling to pay their rent because of the pandemic, it is not sustainable to expect rent arrears to build indefinitely with no hope of paying them off.

“Once again the UK government finds itself trailing behind the rest of the UK. It is time to deliver a similar scheme to support tenants and landlords in England.”