Concerns about finance and debt result in a cost of nearly £10 billion to the UK economy each year, according to Axa.

The insurer estimates a bill of £9.6 billion as a result of employees taking time off to tackle their finances.

But allowing workers an hour in the office to manage their debts could eliminate this, the firm asserts.

"Money is one of the major causes of stress for adults and as such it is a major cause of employee absenteeism," states Axa's Steve Folkard.

"Encouraging adults to take greater control of their finances could actually go some way to reducing not only the UK's levels of personal debt, but also the cost of stress."

Mr Folkard claims that employees already waste more than three hours a month chatting and sending text messages.

Having a little extra time to research issues such as debt consolidation could reduce the cost of repayments, in light of a study conducted by the Office of Fair Trading.

The government body found that two-thirds of Britons who had obtained debt consolidation loans had done so without consulting more than one lender.ADNFCR-1287-ID-18317522-ADNFCR

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