Home owners seeking debt advice

A rise in the number of home owners and workers seeking debt advice in London is "crowding out" more traditional low income clients, a charity has warned.

Debt advisors in London have seen 13% more home owners and 10% fewer social tenants since 2006, said a report from the debt charity Capitalise.

A rise in the volume and complexity of cases means people now wait up to seven weeks for advice, rather than one week.

This left many Londoners "suffering alone" over debt, the report warned.

"Knock-on effect"

Overall, there has been a 35% rise in debt inquiries since April 2008, from 28,163 to 38,197, according to the report titled Up To Our Neck In It.

The average amount of debt of those seeking help from debt advisors increased by 16% to £18,131.

Capitalise warned rising debt levels could negatively impact on public services in London.

"If more people are left unable to manage their debt, it will have a knock-on effect on other public services, including social housing and the NHS," said Mark Allan, from Capitalise.

"Our report shows the desperate need for more debt advisors in the short term and a joined up approach between government and the voluntary sector to tackle the problem of consumer debt in the long term."

The report's findings were based on data from nearly 20,000 people who received free face-to-face debt advice in the capital.

City Hall is hosting a 'debt summit' later to address some of the issues raised by the report.

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