Millions of Britons will struggle to pay for household bills and food this winter, according to newly released figures from Christians Against Poverty.
The debt charity, which provides free face-to-face debt advice, emergency food shops and energy top ups, jobseeker support and money coaching to households in crisis, has launched an urgent appeal to help the UK’s most vulnerable survive winter.
The Christians Against Poverty Christmas appeal reveals the stark reality that Britain’s poorest households face this winter, with 13 million, or 24 per cent of UK adults lacking the income to cover their essential bills.
Another 6.8 million are going without gas or electricity at least once a week, 8.3 million are going without food at least once a week and 12 million have debt they are struggling to repay.
As the cost-of-living bites, churches continue to not only be used as places for worship, celebration and solemn contemplation, but are increasingly being used as food and financial hubs.
Christians Against Poverty provide debt help at churches across the UK, including at Gateway Church in Barnsley.
It was there that Susan Cooper, 77, was eased of her financial burdens with the help of debt coach Jonathan.
She was in £40,000 of debt after a divorce from her husband, which included a large amount of credit card debt.
Eventually, her house was repossessed as she could not afford to pay the mortgage on her own, and she eventually went bankrupt.
Susan Cooper told GB News that the thousands of pounds of debt left her with constant worry and sleepless nights.
She said: “It was just on my mind all the time. I couldn’t sleep and there was my son, who was only 14 at the time and he kept wanting things and you can’t provide it to the extent that he once had.
“I kept fretting about what I could do to get out of debt and didn’t seem to be getting anywhere until I got in touch with CAP [Christians Against Poverty] and after working with them, I just I couldn’t believe the difference.
“Eventually I was made bankrupt, which was a big thing at the time but I’m not bothered about it now because I’d rather have no debt which is the situation now.
“At the time though I really did struggle and even got to the point where I couldn’t even afford my mobile phone to communicate with anybody.
“I’m doing okay now, but the cost of everything is going up, bills, heating, food, and I’ve got arthritis in both legs and I’ve had a hip and knee replacement so winter can be a tough time of year putting the heating on and the cost of it, as I really need to keep warm or else I’d just seize up.”
Another Christians Against Poverty client, Victoria, spent two Christmases with no money, isolated and alone after she suffered a serious ankle injury at work, went through a divorce and was made redundant, all in a short space of time. Victoria was left with over £14,000 of debt.
“I felt very alone. I slipped into a depression, I had no money. I was absolutely broke and about to lose everything,” she said.
She didn’t feel able to tell her family how bad her situation was, so avoided seeing them on Christmas Day.
“In my house there were no decorations, no warmth, and I didn’t have family over because I had no food to feed them. They didn’t know. I’d rather not be there than have to pretend to be happy.
“All I could afford was baked beans on toast for Christmas dinner. I had given up before I met the Christians Against Poverty team.”
After seven years of struggle and hard work, Victoria is now finally debt free and said the support she got helped her regain her faith in humanity.”
Richard Kearnes is the Pastor of Inside Out Church in Mapplewell and is also a support worker for Christians Against Poverty, helping with home visits to people struggling with debt.
He told GB News: “When we go into homes, we see people from all different backgrounds, some addiction problems, some that have lost their jobs and, and they’ve really struggled and it’s got on top of them and got to the point where they can’t cope anymore.
“If they deal with CAP, then they can stop the creditors coming to the door all the time and my role as there is to help them back and offer to pray for them.
“I can offer them hope and share stories where people have been set free from their debt, and that really encourages them that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Christmas can be a costly time of year for a lot of families, but Pastor Kearnes told the People’s Channel that time spent with family and friends is more important than piles of presents under the tree.
For Christians, Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus and all he stands for: love, joy, peace, kindness and hope.
“We don’t need to get caught up in this materialistic stuff where we have to buy all these presents,” he said.
“It’s about being present and Jesus is the gift that was gave to the whole of humanity.
“What we like to do is we like to give our children experiences, do things traditionally as a family, instead of just getting loads of presents because it’s about they will remember the times that they had rather than how many gifts that they had.
“I feel like it’s most important to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.”
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These sentiments were echoed by Mark Reasbeck, who is the Lead Pastor at Gateway Church in Barnsley and who also supports the work of Christians Against Poverty [CAP] in partnership with the church.
“People who we support who are in debt feel like they’re in a dark hole and there’s no light at the end. The amount of people with depression due to money worries is numerous and so many times people say: ‘I want to end it’ and they just don’t know where to go and who to turn to, but CAP brings that light into the darkness.
“At Christmas people can feel under pressure financially, and are looking for hope.
“As Christians, we say Jesus is the ultimate hope and he’s able to actually bring that kind of peace into people’s lives because I think people are looking for peace, but can go to the wrong places – whether it’s getting into debt, thinking money might help with a big loan which they can’t afford to think it might bring some relief to their lives.
“But Jesus brings real peace, true peace, and that’s the message of Christmas. He’s the prince of peace.”
With essential living costs rising to a painfully high level, keeping warm and having food on the table has become a daily crisis.
The latest Christians Against Poverty report exposes the stark reality families across the UK are facing, and calls for urgent action to ensure no one is driven into deeper poverty or longterm debt by simply trying to survive the winter months.
To help those from having to go through a dark, lonely Christmas, and to find out more, click here.
It comes as the charity have also found that 12 million UK adults will struggle to afford this festive season.
Of these, eight million feel pressured to spend more than they can afford buying additional food for Christmas celebrations, with 6.2 million also feeling pressured to spend more than they can afford hosting friends or family over the Christmas period.
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