Accountant who lost £70,000-per-year job reduced to eating ONE meal a day after applying for 700 jobs without success
A qualified accountant is surviving on one meal a day to properly feed his children after applying for 700 jobs over three years without success.
Father-of-two Colin Timpson, 50, has seen his monthly income plummet from a salary of £4,000 to just £900 in benefits since he became unemployed after his contract ended three years ago.
He has applied for 700 jobs but secured only 20 interviews and gained just two weeks of temporary work since he became unemployed.
His family used to enjoy luxuries such as private healthcare schemes, eating out, birthday presents, holidays and gym memberships but now Mr Timpson and his wife Ania, 35, are restricted to eating just one meal a day so they have enough money to feed their two teenage sons.
The desperate parents from Sandhurst, Berkshire eat cheap food including soup, chicken casserole that lasts up to three days or a cheap frozen pizza to ensure they have enough money to feed sons Matthew, 15, and Sebastian, 11.
Matthew has also been affected suffering a nervous breakdown in August last year.
The teenager was hospitalised after he stopped eating for eight weeks and missed a year of school.
Mrs Timpson said: ‘The whole thing has been devastating. Although I didn’t blame Colin for losing his job I had no one else to take my frustrations out on so Colin took the brunt of them.
‘We’ve gone from the perfect "cereal packet" family to a complete disaster.’
Mr Timpson has resorted to applying for basic manual jobs such as lorry driving and warehouse work but is often ‘laughed at’ because he is so over-qualified.
He said: ‘We used to be the perfect family, with a comfortable lifestyle, a lovely home and happy children.
‘But I’ve gone from being the sole breadwinner and earning £4,000 a month to relying on £900 of benefits a month.
‘It’s utterly humiliating and depressing. I never thought we’d be in a position where we are unable to eat, but that’s the reality we are facing.
‘Being in dire straits I had no choice but to impose my own austerity measures on the family.
‘We haven’t been away since I lost my job, all luxuries have gone. It was difficult for us all to adjust to basic living.’
Mrs Timpson, who is originally from Poland, said: ‘It has been absolutely soul-destroying for him.
‘He applied for every job in the newspaper but he gets knocked back every time.
‘Sometimes they just laugh at him as if it is a joke that an accountant is applying for a job like a lorry driver.
‘We don’t know for sure but we suspect his age has something to do with it. He has so much to offer with his experience, but more often than not a younger man gets the job.’
Mr Timpson had a long, successful career in finance and a lucrative three year contract as a financial controller at the White Clover Group before falling victim to the recession in 2009.
After his contract ended, Mr Timpson assumed he would easily pick up more work but after applying for over 100 jobs in two months he contacted the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants for advice.
They told him that hundreds of accountants have lost their jobs during the recession and dozens of candidates were chasing each vacancy.
Mr Timpson said: ‘Even though I spent every day searching for and applying for jobs nothing materialised.
‘I was told by some employers that I was too experienced and many others just said they couldn’t afford an accountant after all because of the recession.’
Their monthly income dropped to just £400 per month in Job Seeker’s Allowance and around £500 in Child Tax Credits.
The family had enjoyed an affluent life in their four bedroom semi-detached house which they bought 12 years ago for £300,000.
They drove two cars, a family Peugeot and a convertible BMW Mini which Mrs Timpson bought new as a 30th birthday present, and enjoyed two foreign holidays a year.
The family felt so financially comfortable they remortgaged their property and took out a £50,000 loan in a bid to build their dream home on a plot of land they bought nearby in 2005.
But after a series of planning wrangles they were forced to demolish the property before they could move in.
They were unable to borrow more money to rebuild the property and the Cheltenham and Gloucester building society repossessed the land.
Luckily, the £1,500-per-month mortgage repayments on their family home are being covered on an interest-only basis, around £700 per month, by a government scheme.
But after utilities and bills are paid, the family have just £100 per week to spend on food, clothes and essentials.
They were forced to sell both their cars and now drive a 54-plate Ford Galaxy People Carrier.
To add to their problems, the family home is now in negative equity and thought to be worth only £250,000.
Housewife Mrs Timpson, who has a degree in media studies, struggled to find a job in her chosen field and so has taken a job at her children’s school as a dinner lady for one hour a day.
Mr Timpson came close to securing a job with a hospital in 2010 until the chief executive had to axe hundreds of jobs due to austerity measures and the offer was withdrawn.
Mr Timpson has written a book on his experiences and how to survive unemployment and hopes to find a publisher soon.
The couple will also appear on BBC3’s How To Get a Life series, which airs on Wednesday night.
Colin said: ‘You assume as an accountant you will always be needed but that isn’t the case.
‘No one’s immune from the recession and losing your job has a devastating effect on family life. I never thought I’d be in this situation.’
A qualified accountant is surviving on one meal a day to properly feed his children after applying for 700 jobs over three years without success.
Father-of-two Colin Timpson, 50, has seen his monthly income plummet from a salary of £4,000 to just £900 in benefits since he became unemployed after his contract ended three years ago.
He has applied for 700 jobs but secured only 20 interviews and gained just two weeks of temporary work since he became unemployed.
His family used to enjoy luxuries such as private healthcare schemes, eating out, birthday presents, holidays and gym memberships but now Mr Timpson and his wife Ania, 35, are restricted to eating just one meal a day so they have enough money to feed their two teenage sons.
The desperate parents from Sandhurst, Berkshire eat cheap food including soup, chicken casserole that lasts up to three days or a cheap frozen pizza to ensure they have enough money to feed sons Matthew, 15, and Sebastian, 11.
Matthew has also been affected suffering a nervous breakdown in August last year.
The teenager was hospitalised after he stopped eating for eight weeks and missed a year of school.
Mrs Timpson said: ‘The whole thing has been devastating. Although I didn’t blame Colin for losing his job I had no one else to take my frustrations out on so Colin took the brunt of them.
‘We’ve gone from the perfect "cereal packet" family to a complete disaster.’
Mr Timpson has resorted to applying for basic manual jobs such as lorry driving and warehouse work but is often ‘laughed at’ because he is so over-qualified.
He said: ‘We used to be the perfect family, with a comfortable lifestyle, a lovely home and happy children.
‘But I’ve gone from being the sole breadwinner and earning £4,000 a month to relying on £900 of benefits a month.
‘It’s utterly humiliating and depressing. I never thought we’d be in a position where we are unable to eat, but that’s the reality we are facing.
‘Being in dire straits I had no choice but to impose my own austerity measures on the family.
‘We haven’t been away since I lost my job, all luxuries have gone. It was difficult for us all to adjust to basic living.’
Mrs Timpson, who is originally from Poland, said: ‘It has been absolutely soul-destroying for him.
‘He applied for every job in the newspaper but he gets knocked back every time.
‘Sometimes they just laugh at him as if it is a joke that an accountant is applying for a job like a lorry driver.
‘We don’t know for sure but we suspect his age has something to do with it. He has so much to offer with his experience, but more often than not a younger man gets the job.’
Mr Timpson had a long, successful career in finance and a lucrative three year contract as a financial controller at the White Clover Group before falling victim to the recession in 2009.
After his contract ended, Mr Timpson assumed he would easily pick up more work but after applying for over 100 jobs in two months he contacted the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants for advice.
They told him that hundreds of accountants have lost their jobs during the recession and dozens of candidates were chasing each vacancy.
Mr Timpson said: ‘Even though I spent every day searching for and applying for jobs nothing materialised.
‘I was told by some employers that I was too experienced and many others just said they couldn’t afford an accountant after all because of the recession.’
Their monthly income dropped to just £400 per month in Job Seeker’s Allowance and around £500 in Child Tax Credits.
The family had enjoyed an affluent life in their four bedroom semi-detached house which they bought 12 years ago for £300,000.
They drove two cars, a family Peugeot and a convertible BMW Mini which Mrs Timpson bought new as a 30th birthday present, and enjoyed two foreign holidays a year.
The family felt so financially comfortable they remortgaged their property and took out a £50,000 loan in a bid to build their dream home on a plot of land they bought nearby in 2005.
But after a series of planning wrangles they were forced to demolish the property before they could move in.
They were unable to borrow more money to rebuild the property and the Cheltenham and Gloucester building society repossessed the land.
Luckily, the £1,500-per-month mortgage repayments on their family home are being covered on an interest-only basis, around £700 per month, by a government scheme.
But after utilities and bills are paid, the family have just £100 per week to spend on food, clothes and essentials.
They were forced to sell both their cars and now drive a 54-plate Ford Galaxy People Carrier.
To add to their problems, the family home is now in negative equity and thought to be worth only £250,000.
Housewife Mrs Timpson, who has a degree in media studies, struggled to find a job in her chosen field and so has taken a job at her children’s school as a dinner lady for one hour a day.
Mr Timpson came close to securing a job with a hospital in 2010 until the chief executive had to axe hundreds of jobs due to austerity measures and the offer was withdrawn.
Mr Timpson has written a book on his experiences and how to survive unemployment and hopes to find a publisher soon.
The couple will also appear on BBC3’s How To Get a Life series, which airs on Wednesday night.
Colin said: ‘You assume as an accountant you will always be needed but that isn’t the case.
‘No one’s immune from the recession and losing your job has a devastating effect on family life. I never thought I’d be in this situation.’
