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A leading charity says it is helping “one person every two minutes” with redundancy fears in the UK as the leave deadline approaches.
Citizens Advice says the number of people seeking layoff advice is more than triple the number at the same time last year.
Just last week, 300,000 people visited your website with advice on how to cope with job loss.
John Boyle lost his job after working behind the scenes at a Liverpool theater for almost 30 years.
“It’s a really worrying moment,” Citizens Advice’s Minesh Patel told Sky News.
“People are really worried about what will happen next for them, particularly with the end of the licensing plan this month.
“There is a real concern that there will be another wave of layoffs.”
The leave plan, in which workers paid 80% of their salary to stay at home up to a limit of 2,500 pounds sterling, will end permanently on October 31.
It is being replaced by a Employment support plan in November.
On Friday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak Announced The government will pay up to two-thirds of the salaries of people who work for companies that must close due to coronavirus rules.
It goes beyond a previously announced plan to increase workers’ wages by a third of their hours.
But critics have warned that the schemes don’t go far enough and could see widespread job losses.
The figures, released exclusively for Sky News, show that visits to the charity’s online forums offering advice on entitlement to benefits also increased by nearly a third.
The page that explains the different benefits that people can apply for has become the most visited on the website.
John Boyle, 54, of Liverpool contacted the charity after being fired from his job in March.
Boyle worked behind the scenes at a Liverpool theater for almost 30 years. This is the first time you have claimed a state benefit.
“I’ve cried so many times that I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve cried,” she told Sky News.
“It has broken my soul. I have been trying to get a job since March and it has been terrible because the whole industry has collapsed.”
Charities have warned that thousands could be in trouble when the Universal Credit increase of £ 20 a week is eliminated next year.
The increase was introduced in April to help families overcome the financial difficulties caused by the closure.
The Department of Work and Pensions told Sky News that it had spent billions supporting the most vulnerable and would continue to focus on job creation, recycling and financial assistance.
But for Boyle, the prospect of losing even 20 pounds is terrifying.
“I live basic as is,” he says. “What is going to accumulate with me will be my rent. There might even come a time when I am evicted.
“I used to see people living on the streets and I wondered how they got there. But now I know.
“It’s so surreal, I just can’t bear to think what’s going to happen in the next four weeks, let alone the next 12 months.”
The chancellor announced the national licensing plan in March, shortly after the country went into lockdown in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19.
The scheme began to decline in August, when the ONS estimated 12% of employees still used it.
