Figures reveal spiralling debt across Leeds
Families in Leeds are being pushed to breaking point by crippling debts, according to one support charity.
Figures from StepChange reveal the service has bene contacted by nearly 1,352 local people in the space of six months, with average debts nearly £9,000.
This left them with a budget deficit every month, meaning they were £4 short of being able to afford even their essential bills.
“I think in many cases, using credit to keep up with an emergency is very rarely a good step,” says Robbie de Santos who’s from the charity.
“Unfortunately it’s what four in 10 people who faced an income shock in the last year had to do to keep up with their costs.
“But for two thirds of those people, it led to some further financial difficulties. So you can see how it’s the beginning of a spiral into problem debt.”
The figures coincide with the charity’s new report, Navigating the New Normal, which shows more than one in five Brits are currently showing at least one sign of financial difficulty and 2.6m of them are in severe problem debt. Of those, 73 per cent suffered at least one ‘income shock’ in the last year, such as job loss or a reduction in hours.
The charity says that people on low and middle incomes are particularly at risk after an income shock, with a combination of little to no savings and an unresponsive welfare system leaving them unable to meet their basic costs.
The report comes after the latest Bank of England figures showed the highest annual increase in borrowing on credit cards and personal loans for nine years.
Single mum Leona told Radio Aire how she got into debt after losing her zero-hours job:
“I ended up going back home to help a family member because they’d had an operation. I returned to find they’d hired someone else because I was away for two weeks.
“So it gives you no security. It makes it impossible to be able to have a guaranteed income.
“I had to switch to pre-payment meter. If you don’t have it, you just don’t have heating. I eventually ended up with asthma which I put down to being in such a damp and cold house.
“My outgoings just didn’t allow for me to keep up with it all.”