A Church of Scotland council has demanded an increase in the level of redundancy pay for workers losing their jobs because of the credit crunch.

The Rev Ian Galloway, convener of the Kirk’s Church and Society Council, has written to every Scottish MP urging them to back Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle’s Private Member’s Bill in the House of Commons on Friday 13 March. Mr Hoyle is calling for improved statutory redundancy pay.

The current level of statutory redundancy pay is capped at £350 a week, regardless of an individual’s salary. Campaigners claim this figure is now only worth half of the average pay because it hasn’t increased with inflation.

Mr Galloway said it was crucial that as many MPs attend to stop the Bill being “talked out”.

“For the Church of Scotland this is not simply an issue of cash but of justice," he said.

“We need to do all we can to stand by those who lose their jobs so that the struggles they and their families experience are minimised as much as possible.”