Walsall Money Advice Project

Debt Advice Case Study “A Walsall support organisation referred a young lady in her mid to late 20's, she lives alone in rented accommodation and has access to two children. She is being support with a drug problem and supports herself via the state benefits system and periodic prostitution. After an initial assessment it became apparent that “Mandy” had a considerable number of priority debts to various local authority councils for rent arrears and council tax arrears (due to frequency of movement and numerous unsuccessful attempts to settle). She also had over 30 credit debts which had become totally unmanageable and totalled £35,000.

Her most pressing concerns were the debts to the magistrate's court which totalled over £2000 and outstanding warrants existed for her arrest. After a complete assessment of her situation the support worker arranged to accompany her to magistrate's court to deal with the fines problem. These fines were held in abeyance to await bankruptcy. Mandy opted to proceed for bankruptcy but could not afford the fees to pay for this order. The support worker over a period of months and considerable hours of work arranged to prevent further action on her debts (this included several visits to court in two different authorities) and managed to raise funds from the “Family Welfare Association”. During this period the landlord attempted to reposes Mandy's home but this was successfully challenged at the County Court by her support worker. In November of 2005 nearly 8 months after opening the case Mandy, with the support of her worker successfully applied for bankruptcy in the County Court. Yet due to her erratic lifestyle Mandy was threatened with the cancellation of her Bankruptcy order due to failure to cooperate with the official receiver. The project took Mandy to meet the Official receiver in Stoke on Trent and after a brief but open interview the Official Receiver accepted that equal opportunities demanded a higher level of understanding and service provision from their department resulting in an early discharge after just 6 months. Her fines have been remitted by the courts in recognition of her bankruptcy and is now free from the continued worry of arrest.

Mandy became empowered by the support she received and the trust that developed enabled her to be open and honest about her circumstances. She explained that she had first been arrested for financial fraud and as a result had been placed on probation. It was at the probation service that she met others using drugs and this became her first real introduction to drug use mainly as a means of engaging a social group. Later she entered the sex industry in order to support her drug use and then accumulated fines and debt.

Mandy is not a finished success story in fact she's an ongoing work that involves frequent involvement although getting less frequent as time goes on. Mandy now contacts to ask about helping out with her electric supplier or sourcing furniture from charitable groups, this makes a change from the frequent calls that always mentioned a court appearance and the possibility of imprisonment.

Debt Advice Case Study Mr Richards refers himself to the Walsall Money Advice Project for assistance with debt. Interviewed in his own home it becomes apparent that he is being supported by Lantern House and has been taking Heroin initially to deal with pain relief for a damaged spine. The project completes a Disability Living Allowance Claim pack to attempt to increase his income and then completes a financial assessment and starts the debt management process. Mr Richards has a number of unpaid fines from other areas in the UK . These fines are dealt with as a priority and considerable effort is made to negotiate his continued stay at his parent's home.

Mr Richards was clearly unable to manage a number of life challenging issues in unison and therefore the support of the project enabled him to concentrate on his work with Lantern House being assured that his financial difficulties are being managed by the project.

The project is prepared to continue support into independent accommodation and assist with benefit entitlements to ensure that his resettlement is successful.