Recent figures from debt charity Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) have shown that divorce and relationship breakdown is leading 25 people to seek help with unmanageable debt each day.
A total of 9,099 people counselled by CCCS during 2011 cited divorce or separation as the main cause of their debt problem, with women outnumbering men two-to-one.
CCCS clients attributing their debt problem to relationship breakdown owed an average of £17,629 in unsecured debt, and had just £25 each month available to meet debt repayments after meeting their basic living expenses – a worse financial position than clients in general, who had an average monthly surplus of £40.
Ruth Sutherland, CEO of Relate, the UK’s largest provider of relationship counselling, said: “The emotional and financial cost of break-up has a devastating effect on families and nationally relationship breakdown costs the UK an estimated £44 billion a year so it is important to get help to people before their relationships break down.
“Relate counsellors are witnessing the huge strain that money worries place on people’s abilities to be good partners, parents and employees. We must act now so we don’t pass this emotional and financial cost onto future generations.”
