The Challenge: Rising Household Debt, Deprivation and Poverty in the West Midlands.
Despite the various UK Government support measures, more households are now reporting being in financial difficulty than at the start of the Covid-19 crisis. Around one in five households nationally report experiencing some kind of financial difficulty.
Recent economic and world events will inevitably lead to a worsening of this situation.
In Dudley Borough, 11% of households are among the most deprived in England and are by and large occupied by people having low financial resilience, being overindebted, and considered to be income deprived and vulnerable.
This equates to around 35,000 Dudley residents.
Such households are more likely to have no or limited access to internet resources, no personal transport, and more-often than not will require face to face advocacy, help and support to address their complex circumstances.
Life Centre Debt Advice, Stourbridge engages with and responds to the debt and economic concerns of such vulnerable households.
Being in debt hurts; physically and emotionally, and not just the indebted person. It affects many lives. It breaks marriages, separates families. It contributes to ill-health, and can lead to homelessness, reduced self-control, addictive actions, violence and death.
No one is immune.
So what can be done?
Studies have found that 65% of people who received regulated debt advice were repaying their debts or had repaid them in full within three to six months.
Life Centre Debt Advice (LCDA) is based in the midst of the community in Bellmark House, Market Street, and is licensed to offer free, confidential, regulated advice from its team of competent and professionally trained advisors.
As a registered charity, brought into existence at the behest of Churches Together in Stourbridge, LCDA offer money management, debt advice, guidance and support to local households.