Debts & Loans

DEMAND for help with debt problems in the Salisbury area is soaring as jobs are axed and families struggle to pay their mortgages.

Last month, the local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) dealt with 1,174 new enquiries including 476 about debt, 327 about benefits and 113 about job-related issues. It has asked Salisbury District Council for an extra £21,000, on top of the £102,500 it has already been granted in the current financial year, to meet the additional demand.



The council’s cabinet was due to consider the request last night. The CAB has also secured additional government funding which will enable it to see an extra 600 clients at its bureau in Smithfield Street, Amesbury over the coming year, and to open the Salisbury bureau one evening a week from October until March next year.



Local CAB chief executive, Kate Godfrey, said: “As people on low and moderate incomes are struggling to make ends meet at a time of increasing uncertainty about the security of their jobs and incomes, access to reliable, high-quality, free, independent advice has never been more vital.”

The district council has also been asked to give another £5,000 to Wiltshire Charities Information Bureau, which has already received almost £10,000.