Christian charity says government and council debt recovery ‘aggressive and frightening’

Christians Against Poverty’s (CAP) new report ‘Powerless People’, found that while private companies have made great strides in the way they treat people in debt, debt collections from government and councils are increasingly becoming more aggressive and frightening.

Rachel Gregory from the charity told Premier about the depths of suffering from people chased for debts like council tax and benefit overpayments.

With council tax arrears – which just under half of the people we help at Christians Against Poverty have – what we see is that things can escalate very quickly from missing one payment to having a demand to pay the full year’s council tax in full and very quickly then going to court to get a liability order to have enforcement officers at someone’s door.”

Almost half of all debt clients helped by CAP have a debt with the DWP, HMRC or their local authority, with 41 per cent more likely to have considered suicide than those with only private sector debts.

The study also found 69 per cent of debtors were so stressed that they skipped meals and 93 per cent had suffered sleepless nights as a result.

Gregory said more compassion is needed towards people struggling financially.

“People we’re helping that have these types of debt are more likely to be vulnerable. We’re seeing higher rates of mental health problems and lone parents and learning difficulties. And…