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The latest unemployment figures have show that unemployment has taken a big jump in February – this means more and more people will be needing self cert mortgages to help finance their home.

Claimant count unemployment rose by 138,400 in February from January, according to the Office of National Statistics. This was the largest monthly rise since records began in 1971 and now overall claimant count unemployment now stands at 1.391 million, its highest level since January 1998. This means many more people will have to turn to self cert as they choose self employment as a means to get by.

Redundancies rose by 263,000 over the three months to December, including 60,000 in the manufacturing sector and 52,000 in finance and business services. The Centre of Economic and Business Research says as well as the unemployment rise, it is increasingly difficult to find a job: the level of vacancies fell to 445,000 in February, 36% lower than a year earlier, with the fall in vacancies in the finance and business services sector particularly acute. That's a lot of talented people out of work – so they will have to turn to making money in less traditional ways, which means more people will need to self certify themselves.

Charles Davis, CEBR economist says: "These figures paint a stark picture of the significant deterioration in the UK labour market. We expected there to be especially sharp job cuts in the spring as firms assess their budgets for the year ahead so these changes are to an extent in line with expectations."

If you have found yourself out of work, or think it's time to become self employed, you still have financial options. Talk to a mortgage adviser about what you have to do to self certify yourself and prove to lenders that you can still be a good borrower, regardless of your income stream type.

SOURCE: ONS, CEBR, 18/03/09

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