At a time when it’s needed more than ever, a project set up to tackle Bradford’s increasing debt problems could be facing closure.

The Financial Inclusion Project was set up in 2005 within the city’s Citizens Advice Bureau to deal with the rising number of clients in financial difficulty contacting the service.

Alex Bohdanowicz, the bureau’s specialist services manager, explains that the project is part of a national initiative introduced by the Government which identifies the need for debt advice.

There are ten specially-trained workers within Bradford’s project, but all are now on redundancy notices as the bureau awaits news of whether it has secured the funding it needs to continue the debt service.

If it doesn’t get the funding, the service will close in March.

Last year, the service handled 1,770 new cases and dealt with a staggering £17m-worth of debt through its offices in Bradford, Shipley and Keighley. On a weekly basis, the service deals with 58 debt-related inquiries.

There is currently a waiting list of clients going into February, but staff are reluctant to take any more on until they know that the future of the service is secure.

Alex is conscious that with VAT and fuel bills increasing, demand on the service is likely to escalate. She fears clients may resort to desperate measures such as seeking out loan sharks and end up in a far worse predicament, if the service isn’t there to help them sort out their financial situation.

“We deal with people who are in the most acute situations. We prevent homelessness, disconnection of essential services, people facing imprisonment for non-payment of magistrates and council tax fines – and that is before we start looking at the massive credit debt people are facing,” says Alex, who is in the process of informing the district’s MPs of the service’s predicament in the hope that they can help.

“Last year we dealt with £17m- worth of debt in Bradford, Shipley and Keighley, and we know that people are facing job losses and cuts,” says Alex.

“In October, the Government changed the rates for the Support for Mortgage Interest benefits system, and it has sent people who were just about managing to keep their homes into a position where they are facing homelessness, and it is getting worse. At a time when we see this service is needed the most, we risk it being completely pulled.”

Alex says it is the biggest project within the Citizens Advice Bureau. “It isn’t just affecting our capacity to provide debt advice – it affects the whole infrastructure of the organisation,” she says.

“The people who come through our door are people who are facing the most vulnerable situations. People we are dealing with have lost their job, they have health problems. Many are facing crises.”

Health problems, relationship breakdowns and job losses have the potential to lead people into debt. A Ministry of Justice report in 1997 found that 91 per cent of people in debt showed their health had been affected by owing money. One in four people in debt also have a mental health problem. Depression and anxiety can be related to debt.

“People struggle to deal with this issue and they really need quite a lot of supported help,” says Alex.

Brian Davison is one of many clients whose lives have been turned around by the service. Brian’s financial problems were triggered after he was made redundant from his job managing of a crew moving bands’ equipment around.

“I got made redundant and I was in debt. I was going further and further down, and it was over my head constantly. The service was invaluable,” he says.

Carol Fitzsimmons, of Baildon, sought help through the debt service for her financial struggles after she gave up her cleaning job to look after her husband while he was recovering from stomach cancer.

“I couldn’t pay my mortgage or anything. I was very depressed and I cried and cried,” says Carol, who was afraid of losing the family home. “Someone told me to get in touch with them.”

Carol says she would be ‘gutted’ if the service had to close. “They have done a tremendous job. It has turned my life around very much so,” she says.

l The Bradford Citizens Advice Bureau office is moving to George Street in Bradford. To allow for the move, the service will be closed to the public for two weeks from Monday. The Shipley and Keighley sites are unaffected.