More funds for debt help

Hundreds more people in Norfolk and North Suffolk will be able to get free, independent help with debt, after funding was announced debt help yesterday for more advisers.

One adviser will be assigned to Diss and two to Lowestoft, with 1.5 full-time equivalent posts in Yarmouth and 0.5 in Norwich.

Steve Wiseman, chief executive of Norfolk Citizens Advice Bureau, said: "This will allow us to do more outreach work in the communities, to help some people in real need. It is a great step in the right direction although it doesn't debt help solve everything."

Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) and Advice UK centres across the country have been awarded ¡ê33m from the government's financial debt help inclusion fund over two years for more face-to-face debt advice.

Three years ago, the CAB warned that a significant section of the UK population was grappling with unmanageable debt.

The amount owed by debt help more than 900 CAB clients surveyed over a month averaged nearly 14 times their monthly income.

CAB chief executive David Harker said: "The credit boom of recent years has brought great advantages and helped raise standards of living, butdebt help it is also taking a huge toll on the lives of those who have found themselves on the wrong side of the very narrow dividing line between successfully managing credit commitments and plunging into serious debt.

"Day in, day out, our advisers see evidence of how personal debt problems are overwhelming large numbers of people, with potentially devastating personal and social consequences, including a debt help hugely detrimental impact on debt help people's health, homes, family life and ability to work.

"That's why we are absolutely thrilled by debt help this news, which represents a real vote of confidence in the debt advice already done by the Citizens Advice Bureau network, and means that a new generation of debt advisers will be able to help."

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New funding to provide more debt help

Tens of thousands more people debt help will be able to get free, independent help with debt problems from the national network of Citizens Advice Bureaux thanks to major new funding.

Problem-solving charity Citizens Advice has been awarded a total of ¡ê33 million over two years to provide more face-to-face debt advice. Some of debt help the funding is for joint bids with advice sector partner Advice UK. The cash comes from the Government¡¯s ¡ê45 million Financial Inclusion Fund.

The extra money will make it possible to recruit debt help and train an additional 370 full-time specialist debt advisers. This will mean around 100,000 more people on very debt help low incomes and facing serious debt problems can be helped through in-depth casework. Nearly 200 bureaux across England and Wales will be involved, many of them working in partnership with other free, independent advice debt help providers such as Advice UK.

The Citizens Advice Service is already the largest provider of free, independent debt advice in the UK. The bureau network in England and Wales dealt with 1.25 million new debt problems in debt help 2004/05 and the number of consumer debt problems seen by bureaux has almost doubled since 1997.

Research has shown that CAB debt clients are generally much poorer than the population at large, with a monthly household income less than half that of the UK average. The debt help amount they owe averages more than 17 times their monthly income.

Citizens Advice Chief Executive David Harker said: "Day in, day out, our advisers see evidence of how personal debt problems are overwhelming debt help large numbers of people, with potentially devastating personal and social consequences, including a hugely detrimental impact on people¡¯s health, homes, family life and debt help ability to work.

"That¡¯s why we are absolutely thrilled by this news, which represents a real vote of confidence in the debt advice already done by the Citizens Advice Bureau network. It means that a new generation of debt advisers will be able to help tens of thousands more people overcome serious debt debt help problems. We are especially pleased that the Citizens Advice service will be a leading partner in helping the Government deliver its objectives on debt help financial inclusion. This is a big challenge, but we believe we are ready and able to meet it."

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