A Coventry charity which supports people in serious financial difficulties has received a grant to help pay for a new member of staff as it struggles to cope with the growing number of city residents needing help with chronic debt.
Christians Against Poverty has received a £5,000 grant from the Foundation to go towards the costs of a new debt coaching specialist.
This comes as the charity had been forced to ask residents to wait for up to three months – or even turn people away – who need help and advice about coping with their financial problems.
The new specialist is set to focus on the growing number of young people under the age of 30 living in Coventry who are in debt.
Ian Burton, from Christians Against Poverty, said: “One in 11 households in the UK are described as being in chronic debt, and the number of people contacting us for help from Coventry is constantly increasing.
“We’re one of the only services that offer in-depth debt support for free and are so oversubscribed that we’re taking bookings months in advance, or even being forced to turn people away – which is the last thing we want to do.
“Our clients come to us for a number of reasons. It’s mainly if they have had a sudden change in their lives such as redundancy, the breakdown of a relationship or illness.
“We provide a one-to-one service where we go into people’s homes and really get to know them. A lot of people live in such fear, they’ve lost the ability to cope and don’t know how much debt they’re in. We help them understand this and help put together a plan.
“Our new debt coaching specialist will focus on supporting young people as we are currently seeing an increasing number of residents come to us for help who are under 30.
“Although we are a Christian charity, we work right across the board. We are supported by the church, but rely on grants and charitable donations to survive. We are extremely grateful that Heart of England Community Foundation saw what we are doing and offered their support.”
Tina Costello, CEO of the Foundation, said: “Christians Against Poverty are doing incredible work across Coventry. Debt is very much a hidden problem which people often don’t like to talk about, but the charity is helping people in serious financial difficulty get the support they desperately need.
“We hear from so many causes like Christians Against Poverty which are making a positive impact on people’s lives, and we look forward to supporting even more in the future.”
For more information about Christians Against Poverty, visit https://capuk.org/