Caroline

I was furloughed last year for several months, but after six months back at work I’ve now been made redundant. I work in the charity sector, and the funding for my job role was discontinued by the funding organisation who were trying to spread their resources around several service providers. Ironically, I have gone from advising clients about their benefits claims, to needing to claim benefits myself. I am a woman in my 60s and it’s the second time I have been made redundant in five years. I have had caring responsibilities all my adult life, and I only have a very small private pension, so I can’t ​‘retire early’ as some people are able to do when faced with redundancy at my age. I am grateful that we still have a welfare state in the UK, but it seems to be shrinking all the time, and many people, like myself, are facing an anxious future.