T om Godfrey, 39, escaped the last recession unscathed. For 21 years he has been in constant employment. Since he left school at 16 there was always a steady job for the printing machine operator from southeast London.

Last month, however, Mr Godfrey was made redundant, leaving him desperately worried about the future of his young family. He is £45,000 in debt, has a £79,000 mortgage and, since his wife Emma also lost her part-time job in February, the household has no money coming in apart from benefits. To feed and clothe their two children, Harry, 11, and Amber, 7, Mr Godfrey has to rely on £9,100 in redundancy pay and £700 a month from the state.

It’s not enough. With food and fuel bills rising, as well as the mortgage on their two-bedroom home in Surrey Quays, Mr Godfrey calculates that the money will last until Christmas. After that, he doesn’t know what will happen. “I could rough it on my own, live on the street, but I’m scared for the kids. Where are they going to go if the house is repossessed?” he said.

“I don’t want to seem like I’m poncing money off anyone,” he added. “I’m not the sort that sits around collecting benefit and watching TV. I’ve tried to find work but all the local places are either shut down or don’t have any jobs.”

It was on his birthday, October 13, that Mr Godfrey got a call from his boss. “He told me he was going to have to make cuts,” he said. “A week later I didn’t have a job.” Bills lie on the living room table, waiting to be paid. A BMW, bought ten years ago when Mr Godfrey was earning £40,000, languishes in the rain. Now he owns a Peugeot that cost £65 and runs on a diesel and chip fat. “I get the oil free from a café and mix in into the car with a sock.”

Mr Godfrey’s unemployment is causing tension in his relationship. “Emma and I argue a lot more now, living on top of each other,” he said. The children sense something is wrong. “They hear us arguing. Amber asks me, ‘Are we going to lose the house?’ I tell her not to worry, but it’s very stressful.

“I feel like a lost cause. When you were always so busy and suddenly you go from that to nothing, you feel like society’s not appreciating you. It’s gone from everything to nothing.”

Mr Godfrey added: “I’m going to give it until the new year and maybe retrain as a plumber.”

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