QSA highlights high levels of debt
8,800,000 - The number of people in Britain who are turning to credit to pay for their everyday essentials.
Quaker Social Action (QSA) is asking Friends to remember the tenth year of Debt Awareness Week. This year’s focus was on the barriers people face before seeking help.
According to the organisers, StepChange, research shows there are five common reasons people don’t seek help for debt worries. During the week, from 18 to 24 March, the campaign focused on one of those obstacles each day.
‘Research by the Money and Pensions Service in 2022 discovered that nine million people across the UK have no savings and another five million have less than £100 in savings,’ said Jez Smith, from the Money Guiders England Network, a QSA project delivered in partnership with the Money and Pensions Service. ‘The lack of savings means that when people suffer income shocks, they aren’t able to cope and this can quickly lead to debt. Income shocks could include relationship breakdown (such as separation), family changes (such as having a baby), being the victim of a scam, or an unexpected cost (such as an MOT bill, breakdown of a washing machine or fridge or funeral costs after a bereavement).’
Debt causes physical and mental health issues, family breakdown, homelessness, and lost employment and productivity, say the organisers.
StepChange is also calling for reforms to bailiff law, and an alternative supply of affordable credit. The group has also successfully campaigned for the government to introduce a comprehensive ‘Breathing Space’ scheme to support people seeking help from a regulated debt advice provider.
The campaign is aimed at the nearly nine million people in Britain who are turning to credit to pay for their everyday essentials.
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