Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to sort through the different options available if you've lost your job. Hosted by Frances Cook.

As our economy struggles through lockdown, the axe has already fallen on many jobs.

While it’s well and good to say we need to plan for the rainy day, the reality is many people don’t have any savings, and now find themselves without any income either.

Wages were flat for a long time before this current crisis, and some were already struggling.

The last quarter of 2019 saw an increase in requests for both hardship grants and food parcels, compared to the same time in 2018.

Now the Salvation Army has released a report on the social impacts already being felt from Covid-19.

Requests for help to get food have spiked sharply, and there are worries about people who are in debt, and soon won’t be able to make payments.

Many people will have to ask for help when they’re used to relying on themselves.

For the latest Cooking the Books I talked to Ronji Tanielu from the Salvation Army's social policy and parliamentary unit.

We discussed what help is available from employers, government, and community groups, as well as the free financial advice people can access from the Salvation Army and MoneyTalks.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook