People 'drink more' after losing job

By Brandice Alexander
Newsbeat reporter

Many people turn to alcohol as a way of coping with redundancy

There's a warning more people are turning to alcohol because of job cuts around the UK.

The charity Drinkaware says one in 10 people knows someone who's drinking more after being made redundant.

James, 30, worked in IT for six years before he was laid off just before Christmas and now has a lot of free time on his hands.

He tried to stay focused on job hunting but after getting lots of rejections through the post, got fed up.

He said: "My bubble was burst. I was out of my comfort zone and asking myself, 'Why me? What did I do to get made redundant?'"

He started to get depressed over the number of rejections he was getting.

The more time he had on his hands, the more he says he started to drink because there was nothing else to do.

James never had problems with drink before he was made redundant but the sudden change in his life, quickly changed his drinking pattern.

Have Your Say: Has losing your job turned you to drink?

'Coping mechanism'

He says he knew something wasn't right when he started thinking about drinking cider for breakfast.

James would drink during the day and then meet his mates and ex-colleagues in the bar after they finished work. Before he knew it he'd clocked up a lot of units.

Alcohol is a depressant and can lead to further stress and anxiety, which can make the effects of redundancy much worse Chris Sorek, CEO of Drinkaware

His friend advised him to not have a drink before 4pm, once he'd filled out application forms. Finally James got a job and his heavy boozing eased.

"I had to stop," he said. "You can't turn up to work with a hangover can you?"

James isn't alone. Official statistics show 2,681 people lose their job every day in the UK.

Drinkaware say out of the 2,253 unemployed adults they surveyed, two thirds of them blamed their heavy boozing on their redundancy.

Chris Sorek, CEO of Drinkaware, said: "The country is facing one of its worst recessions in history and redundancies are making daily headlines.

"Losing your job is recognised as one of the top 10 most stressful life events, and many people are turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism.

"But alcohol is a depressant and can lead to further stress and anxiety, which can make the effects of redundancy much worse."