(MENAFN Press) New research has seen Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) preparing for the worst as a surge in debt cases is predicted by a top UK university, says Debt Solutions Company, Trust Deed Scotland.
New research conducted by the University of Nottingham on the impact of public sector unemployment on Scotland has found that far from things getting better for Scottish citizens it is set to get worse. A further 16,000 people are expected to seek debt advice over the next year as a result of the deep public sector cuts that have been made. According to the debt guidance charity the Money Advice Trust, the implications of the new research is that this will be a 21% increase on the 78,000 that currently already do.
Head of policy at CAS, Susan McPhee, said: "The Scottish CAB service is already in the forefront of helping those who are drowning in debt. Of every four cases we see, more than one will be a debt case. And that rate has been growing steadily for the last few years. Indeed the demand has been growing so much that we have had to train more and more of our advisers to specialise in debt. We now have 120 expert advisers in Scotland who deal only with debt cases and nothing else. So we see every day how debt destroys people's lives, and we have become experts on how to help people manage their way out of debt. We will advise anyone, and our help is free, confidential and completely impartial."
The predicted increases have put CAS on high alert and preparing its advisers for the expected demand “ with all the accompanying drain on its finances that go with it.
"We have two messages today. Our message to people who are struggling with debt is that your local CAB is ready and keen to help you - there are always routes you can follow, and we will help you find those. Remember too that the earlier you seek help with your debts, the better."
"But we also have a message today to governments, local authorities and those who fund the CAB service. We are already struggling with significant cuts, and many of our local offices are severely overstretched.
"If debt advice cases are to rise by this extent, you need to consider the consequences of cutting our funding even further. Because if we are not there to help these people, you will see an increase in cases of insolvency, bankruptcy, rent and mortgage arrears, homelessness and ill health - all of which will be more expensive to the public purse than the cost of properly funding our expert service now. It is crazy to be cutting CAB funding just as demand is set to rise so massively."
Around 26% or over a quarter of all cases dealt with by CAB in Scotland are about debt with each client owing an average of 14,000 each.
A spokesperson for Debt Solutions Company Trust Deed Scotland, said: "There really is no end to the recession in sight for the Scottish population. This new report by the University of Nottingham and the subsequent analysis by The Money Advice Trust are a sobering reminder that as living costs continue to soar while pay is frozen or disappears through redundancy, sooner or later the effects will be seen 'at the coalface' “ the CAB offices around Scotland. With services so stretched already, the fall-out from them not being able to help these additional 16,000 people when they need it is hard to imagine."
