Left to right: Scott Kennerley, Money Advice Project Manager, Citizens Advice, Alban Maginnis MLA and Chair of the Committee for Enterprise Trade and Investment, Alayne Kinver, Director of Development, Citizens Advice
Today the Citizens Advice ‘Dealing with Debt’ project launched its latest annual report at the Ramada Encore Hotel, Belfast. The report shows that in the year 2009/10 the Dealing with Debt service helped over 2,500 clients with over £33 million of debt. This is an increase of 7% on the previous year and continues a four year upward trend since the service began.
The effects of the recession continue to have a significant impact on the lives of people in Northern Ireland. With redundancy issues reported to CAB increasing by 42% in 2009 to 3,333 it has meant that more and more people are coming to seek advice and information on their debt situation. This year has brought an increased demand but also an increased complexity in the type of debt cases that advisers have to deal with. For example, increased mortgage repossession actions in court and an increase in complex bankruptcies.
Derek Alcorn, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice said:
“The Dealing with Debt Service has provided vital intervention to people in severe financial difficulty and with the support of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI), Citizens Advice hopes to be able to continue to provide this service to those most in need.”
Scott Kennerley, Citizens Advice and Ann Scott, DETI
Since the service began it has helped close to 9,000 people with their debt problems and made a difference to thousands more considering the impact that debt has on the families of those suffering with the depression and anxiety that often comes with being over indebted.
John Hinds, Head of Consumer Affairs, DETI said:
“All of the debt advisers must be commended on the excellent work they carry out – their energy and passion for the work makes a real difference to the lives of their clients.”
Citizens Advice now holds four years of debt statistics for Northern Ireland and this historical database is now identifying significant trends. Mortgage debt which was £475,000 in 2006/07 and 2007/08 is now £5.4 million. Although the project is focused on personal debt, in the year to March 2010 business debt increased from £900,000 to £2.3 million and the 285 cases dealt with during this period represent a 98% increase on the previous year. The organisation is also able to say that the three largest sources of debt in Northern Ireland are credit cards, personal loans and mortgages.
The statistics held within database allow Citizens Advice to highlight to policy makers and politicians important information about the profile of debt and therefore influence resulting policies on issues like mortgage debt and repossession.