According to research from The Mortgage Lender, which surveyed 2,000 adults, the pandemic resulted in job volatility for nearly a quarter of people, and within that 39 per cent had seen their income decrease.
Self-employed workers were mostly likely to experience job volatility, with 27 per cent seeing a change in their employment status.
The research also showed that a tenth of UK workers were furloughed since March 2020, with the average time spent on furlough pegged at six months.
The pandemic hit younger workers the hardest, with a third of 18-35 years old having a change in their employment status, which is nearly triple that over those aged over 55 at 12 per cent.
Peter Beaumont (pictured), chief executive of The Mortgage Lender, said it was “incredibly eye-opening” that such a large proportion of the UK adults had experienced a change in job status and a large proportion were losing their income.
He said: “More than 18 months on and we are beginning to see the long-term financial impact of this. While people who were furloughed, or who made use of payment holidays, were promised that it would not impact their credit history, we are seeing anecdotal evidence that this may not be the case.
“In a frenetic property market, where demand is high and supply is low, prospective buyers are under pressure to react quickly and be agile when securing a mortgage. In reality, lending decisions don’t typically fit real life borrowers. This is especially true following the pandemic, where we’re seeing an influx of people with potentially adverse or imperfect credit histories.”
He added: “It’s therefore extremely important that the lending market reacts to the trends in UK employment, particularly by considering more complex financial situations. Alternative and specialist lenders will be extremely valuable in this environment, where traditional lenders may have less capacity to adapt to meet real life circumstances.”
