Friday 12th of November 2010
Citizens Advice dealt with 2.4 million debt problems in total in 2009-10 and recorded a 13 per cent increase in inquiries from people looking for help concerning the state of their finances during the same period, compared to a year previously.
According to the community charity, it advised 583,000 individual clients who were worried about how far they had gone into the red.
This has led Gillian Guy - chief executive at Citizens Advice - to launch an appeal to the government to consider the impact public spending cuts could have on bureaux.
She stated that deprived areas may stop receiving funds from the coalition for money advice services beyond next spring, which could lead to financial help being reduced or having to close completely.
"This triple whammy could simply mean that hundreds of thousands of people with debt problems may not be able to get help in their community next year," she added.
According to a report by PwC, the total UK debt figure could top the £10 trillion mark within the next five years.
By Mark Waterman
