EIGHTY per cent of single parents surveyed by Christians Against Poverty (CAP) are “scared to reply the phone as a consequence of being in debt”, the charity reports. For the identical reason, 65 per cent are “scared to reply the door”.
The charity’s report, No Time to Lose, published on Wednesday, relies on evaluation of information from its latest clients — 2225 UK-wide client households who “had a Financial Statement activated for the primary time in 2024”. Of these, 28 per cent were single parents, of whom 26 per cent were single moms and the opposite two per cent single fathers.
One CAP client, Jolene, said: “My ex-partner left, which meant not only was I now liable for paying back all of the bills for the home items, but I had also been a guarantor for a loan for him, and I used to be stuck paying off his debts as well.”
She managed for a yr, but bills increased. “My electricity unexpectedly went to triple the value.” It was a “deeply scary” experience: she “didn’t sleep properly” because her “head was permanently calculating, worrying about where the following meal was going to come back from”.
The report states: “Amongst our clients, single parents showed signs of high levels of worry and fear, when asked in regards to the effects of being in debt”. A complete of 99 per cent were “unable to lower your expenses” last yr.
Jolene received support from her church’s debt centre and was assigned a debt coach. Across the UK, CAP works with local churches in a free service to assist individuals with repayment plans to turn out to be debt free.
The average latest client in 2024 had 12 different debts, the report says. Four of those, amounting to a median of greater than £4600, were priority debts — akin to rent, council tax, energy, water, and tax — defined as having “serious consequences” if not paid.
Of all latest CAP clients, 65 per cent had personal problems, and for 58 per cent, this key issue related to mental health. One quarter said that mental health was the foremost reason for moving into debt, in comparison with low income, relationship breakdown, and long-term illness (all nine per cent); budgeting problems (eight per cent); unemployment (five per cent); addiction, financial abuse, and bereavement (all 4 per cent); and overspending (three per cent).
Last yr, 2436 CAP clients became debt-free, “despite very difficult financial circumstances for households”, the charity says. Yet individuals are still hesitant to hunt help with debt-management, it says.
The report also includes CAP’s annual debt-help client survey. Of the 527 UK adults who took part online and by phone in November and December 2024, just six per cent had sought help immediately after moving into debt. Reasons given for not doing so included feelings of shame (56 per cent), embarrassment (63 per cent), guilt (48 per cent), and fear (46 per cent).
The manager of a debt centre at West Glasgow New Church, Maureen Burke, said: “For a lot of my clients, once they first get in contact with us they’re probably at their lowest point. . . Three out of the five [clients] principally said, ‘We wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t had that help’. Suicide is a really big think about their lives and it felt just like the only choice to them.”
Nearly half (49 per cent) of respondents “had considered or attempted suicide as a way out of debt before looking for help”.
The chief executive of CAP, Stewart McCulloch, said: “This heartbreakingly high figure continues to be a stark reminder that poverty takes greater than people’s possessions or money: it steals their very lives.”
The full report will be read on the CAP website.
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