Paul Fryett, 52, lives with his partner Nicola, seven-year-old son Alfie, and Elsie who was born in July
When lockdown started Paul was working as a dental technician. He was put on furlough straight away and spent three months at home.
Just a few weeks after Elsie was born, he got the worst possible news. “I checked my phone and I had an email just saying they needed to make redundancies and that I was going to be one. I was given two days’ notice.”
With his partner Nicola, who’s a trainee midwife, on maternity leave, it was a real blow. “I knew really that it was going to be really hard finding something else. I felt bad that home life would be a lot more difficult. We’re not buying anything for ourselves anymore, if we have to, we just get things for the kids.”
Paul and Nicola applied for Universal Credit while he started looking for work. “I’ve applied for a taster at a Quorn factory, and a porter at a local hospital, because in the dental trade there doesn’t seem to be anything.”
Paul says he often he hasn’t heard back from the jobs he’s applied for.
New training
In September Paul started a course at his local college, in the hope of training to be an occupational therapist. For Paul it marks a new beginning “I wish I’d looked at doing something like this a long time ago. I always regretted not going to University after leaving school.”
It’s a steep learning curve and Paul isn’t used to using computers – but with his partner Nicola’s help he’s well on the way. “Sometimes having to go through things, you can come out of it the other end with something different and a lot better. If I can get through this and get myself into University it’ll be something brilliant to come out of this.”
According to the Institute for Employment Studies there are now more than three people chasing every job vacancy in the UK. Before the Coronavirus pandemic it was much lower.
