With the downturn of the UK economy worsening, a growing number of Brits are beginning to feel the impacts of the recession as redundancy figures increase.

During the past few years, as more Brits borrowed more than they could afford with the help of careless lending by the banks, the number of those who are suffering from serious debt as they struggle to pay off loans and mortgage arrears are increasing.

Rise in personal debt

According to recent statistics from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), personal debt has risen to almost £17,000 per person.

CAB found that despite receiving previous debt advice, just under a half of UK homeowners are struggling with loan and mortgage repayments with a majority of them spending over a half of their income in an attempt to pay off the arrears.

However, these figures are been based on the earlier stages of the crunch and are expected to be higher regardless of the ongoing reductions of the base rate.

Chief executive David Harker of CAB said: "These findings make sobering reading, especially as they are based on data collected just before the worst of the credit crunch began to bite.

Since then we have seen an enormous rise in the number of people turning to us for help because they have lost their job, so we can expect to see many more people struggling with severe debt problems as the recession continues."

And to make matters worse, the Child Support Agency (CSA) are now chasing up payments from over a decade ago to parents who are in debt that they never knew existed.

More debt trouble for parents

Brian Barnett had been pursued after the CSA claimed he was £12,000 in debt after receiving financial help from the agency over a decade ago when his wife at the time had been out of work.

He told BBC Radio, 5 Live that he was unaware of the debt.

He said: "I was actually in a state of shock because after 11 or 12 years, it was the last thing I expected."

Michelle Counley, chair of the support group, the National Association for Child Support Action said: "A lot of this enforcement action is taken against non-resident parents that have regularly supported their children, maybe as a private arrangement with the parent with care.  

But as benefits have been involved, there's an issue there of not being able to acknowledge payments that have been made, hence the non-resident parent is charged for the whole period again.

They're taking harsh measures against debt that is now penalizing the very child that the child support is supposed to be paid to."

However, a spokesperson for the agency said: "When making any decisions on debt recovery, however, the CSA will always consider the welfare of any child involved, the needs of the non-resident parent and any second family, and any representations of hardship that enforcement action might cause."