Over recent years the number of people that have required debt advice to help them to deal with their rising levels of personal debt has shot up. Debt advice firms and charities have found themselves under mounting pressure with regards to dishing out the advice that people need and waiting lists for seeing debt advisors have been growing longer and longer as more and more people find themselves in a difficult situation where they are unable to afford their debt repayments.

When the coalition government announced that it was launching an austerity drive last year many people thought that the demand for debt advice would soar even further, as more people found themselves under increased financial pressure due to factors such as cuts in benefits, job losses in the public sector and the private sector, and soaring living costs. However, it has been claimed recently that the situation could be worse than initially imagined as a result of the many other countries that are taking similar action, which will also have a knock on effect in the UK.

Some officials believe that with the situation as it is the UK could be in line for another recession in the near future, which would have a huge impact on businesses and jobs. There are now fears that if more and more people end up losing business or jobs the level of demand for debt advice could go through the roof. If the base rate rises over the coming months from its all time low of 0.5 percent this will also have a huge impact on consumer finances.

Speaking about the economic climate and austerity drive in the UK, one official said: “At the moment it just seems to be a worldwide trend. I think the inevitable consequences of that is it is going to be a difficult period ahead, not just for the UK but for much of the world.”