Debt counselling charity to open doors at church

Growing debt counselling charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP) has partnered with Sidley Baptist Church, to bring its in-depth service to the area.

Bexhill is one of 16 places opening a centre during April - rare good news for people who are seeing the biggest squeeze to their income since the two world wars according to a new report by the Centre for Economic and Business Research.

CAP offers an in-depth, caring service to people with spiralling personal debt. Every client is visited in their own home and supported face-to-face until the day they are debt free.

The free debt counselling has been described as “unsurpassed” by TV’s Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis and “staggering” by Prince Charles when he visited a centre last year.

CAP’s CEO Matt Barlow said: “Our experience shows that there will be a huge amount of people in Bexhill who believe there is no hope left.

“Very likely their debt will have been caused by a change in circumstances such as job loss, pay cuts, illness or relationship breakdown.

“Creditors will be ringing all day, the letters will be piling up and their sleep, health and relationships will all be suffering. Yet all this is often hidden because of the shame attached.”

Bexhill centre manager Ros Thomas said: “We’re just so pleased to be able to partner the care of our church with the financial expertise of CAP’s head office in Bradford, Yorkshire. However bad a situation can look, we know we will be able provide hope and a solution.

“CAP saw 71 people become debt free last month. We’re delighted to think some of those will be from Bexhill in the future.”

The charity has 160 centres around the UK currently supporting £66m of secondary debts for its clients regardless of income, age, gender, background or faith.

To find out more, visit www.capuk.org or call 0800 328 0006.