Teachers among rising numbers seeking help with debt, charity says

A charity has revealed it is seeing a growing number of middle income households facing financial problems amid the growing cost-of-living crisis.

Step Change debt charity told BBC’s Reporting Scotland they have been dealing with increased demands from teachers and other professionals.

The charity supports those who have issues with debt and can help deal with creditors as well as putting affordable plans to pay back debt in place.

Sharon Bell said people with full-time jobs on middle incomes are turning to the organisation for support.

She said: “It’s not just people on benefits or on low incomes.

“Teachers have to travel to get to work.

“So if it’s filling up their car, that’s causing them a problem because it’s going to cost more to get there.

“The cost of food is more so they are struggling to put food on the table for their families.

“We are seeing people with arrears in their electricity and basic bills.

“They have increased by £500 already.”

It comes after Scottish Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, pressed the UK Government to do more to help families with “astronomical” rises in energy bills.

The Scottish Government has allocated around £3 billion to help families with the rising cost of living.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs that Scottish independence is “essential” to tackling the cost-of-living crisis.

She said: “The cost-of-living crisis did not happen overnight.

“Years of benefit cuts, pay freezes and failure to tackle rising energy bills, these were deliberate political choices forced on Scotland by Westminster governments that we did not vote for, and have had a devastating effect on living standards.

“These decisions help explain why independent countries comparable to Scotland outperform the UK on a range of indicators, wealthier, more equal and with less poverty, and therefore more able to withstand cost-of-living pressures.”