Help Service Expands Debt Team
28 August 2009
A North East charity is hoping to help people through tough times by expanding its debt advice team.
DAWN Advice, a Northumberland-based social enterprise that employs over 70 financial and legal experts to provide free debt advice, has recruited an extra seven staff to its debt advice team after it was inundated with enquiries.
DAWN now has a 27-strong team dedicated to manning its telephone debt advice lines, which respond to requests for help from throughout the country.
Liz Chadwick, Chief Executive at DAWN Advice, said she was delighted to be creating extra jobs in the region - but admitted the circumstances were unfortunate.
She said: "Perhaps unsurprisingly, since the recession started we have been dealing with ever-increasing numbers of enquiries about managing debt.
"The level of consumer debt in the UK is estimated at around £1.5billion and the problem has been made worse by the recession as people find themselves unable to cope with debt that they have taken on.
"Debt is, for some reason, a taboo subject - we hear from people who have worked all their lives and feel too embarrassed to admit to their families or friends that they are in trouble.
"DAWN can lend people a sympathetic ear but we also have plenty of fully-qualified experts who can give people the best advice on how to handle their situation.
"The North East is not the only region to have been hit - barely a day goes by without news of more redundancies and company closures around the UK.
"DAWN is growing as an enterprise and I am delighted with our success, but it's hard to celebrate when we are dealing every day with such tragic stories."
Set up in 1998, DAWN Advice is a Northumberland-based social enterprise and a member of the UK's largest network of free, advice-providing organisations, adviceuk. It offers advice and information on a number of issues including debt, housing, employment, welfare benefits and family law.