Helping people through the recession
Erewash Borough Council has been working with partners to help local people through the recession. It aims to ensure that residents with money worries or mortgage problems know how to get the support that's available.
Maggie* (see footnote) lives with her husband and two grown-up sons. She receives disability living allowance (DLA) and has a mortgage in her name. Her husband is employed, and both sons work part-time and make a small contribution to the household.
Maggie's problems arose when her debts began to mount up. She was making payments to non-priority creditors but missing mortgage payments. The mortgage arrears had reached £4,975 and she received a court hearing date with a view to repossession. Maggie was extremely worried that she would lose her home, and the stress was affecting her health.
Knowing where to go for help
Thanks to the work of the local council, Maggie found who to turn to for help. Erewash is a small borough with just over 110,000 residents. During the recession, the council has been bringing local partner agencies together. This is to ensure that residents like Maggie know how to get support on money, debt and housing.
Knowing where to go for help is an essential first step for people with escalating money worries. Councillor Carol Hart, Lead Member for Community, says:
"We are taking every opportunity to tell our community where they can get support, advice and assistance. This is because we know that together we have much help on offer."
Funding an advice caseworker
In response to local need, Erewash is funding a full-time advice caseworker at the local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). During the first six months, the caseworker saw 68 clients and helped them to reschedule £600,000 of debts.
Councillor Hart says the move was part of a strategy to target additional funding towards the most vulnerable residents.
"We have recognised the need to respond to these tough times by making changes to our services and working closely with other organisations."
Bringing partners together
Sue Blakeley, Director for Regeneration and Community, says the council has used a variety of methods to tell people about the services available. It ran a special ‘partners day' alongside the local carnival. Seventy local agencies and voluntary groups came together to provide information and advice to more than 1,500 members of the public.
Another new initiative sees housing advisers visiting companies affected by redundancy to hold on-site housing surgeries.
"This should ensure we catch people early to discuss their options, rather than hearing from them at crisis point," says Blakeley.
Greater demand for money advice
Sara Lagoe is Manager of Erewash CAB, which provides debt advice services on behalf of the council. She says the credit crunch has created a much greater demand for money advice, particularly from homeowners facing short-time working or redundancy.
"We have been working closely with the borough council to monitor the effects of the credit crunch. We're looking at ways of making people aware of the help that is available."
And what happened to Maggie? CAB assessed her income and spending. They worked out that she could afford the monthly mortgage payment and also pay a reasonable amount towards the arrears. They helped her to reach an agreement with her mortgage lender and negotiated lower payments with the non-priority creditors. Maggie and her family were immensely relieved that they could remain in their home.
*Footnote: Not her real name.
Published in July 2009.