THE festive season is not the time of year most of us would choose to carry out an audit of our financial position, or start saving for a rainy day.

But if new research by homelessness charity Street Soccer Scotland is anything to go by, it seems we probably should.

According to its latest research a shocking 41 per cent of Scots are only two pay cheques away from losing their home. More than 40 per cent of renters, meanwhile, and a quarter of homeowners, said they or someone they know could lose their home, with younger people most at risk.

It is concerning indeed that an unfortunate but routine change in circumstances, such as being made redundant, could send people into a spiral towards homelessness. But it’s perhaps not hugely surprising considering how vulnerable many still feel after a decade of austerity and continued cuts to real-terms pay and conditions. Indeed, cuts to redundancy payments are particularly relevant to these figures since many of those losing their jobs now clearly have little ability to recover.

With this in mind, perhaps business should be encouraged, even made, to provide more generous redundancy terms, perhaps for all workers with more than two years’ service, so that people have more time and scope to stabilise after the shock of losing their job. Society as a whole would surely benefit.