Christians Against Poverty’s (CAP) Enniskillen Debt Centre, based in Enniskillen Presbyterian Church in East Bridge Street, says the cost of living crisis is crushing those on low incomes.

“We know that everyone’s feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis right now, but if you’re already on a low income, the strain is relentless – plus there’s the added anxiety over future rises in living costs,” said Jonathan Hayward, Enniskillen’s Debt Centre Manager.

CAP has been offering free debt help, along with emotional and practical support, to people across Fermanagh over the past seven years.

“People fall into debt for a variety of reasons.”

“They may have been made redundant, left a job to care for a family member, suffered from a long-term illness themselves, or experienced a relationship breakdown – which cuts many household’s income in half.”

A CAP report released this month exposes the growing impact that the cost of living crisis is having on low-income households in Fermanagh, trapping them in debt.

A CAP report, ‘To The Edge’, revealed new clients across Northern Ireland have an average peak debt over £18,240, and without free debt help it would take on average 51 years for a household to repay such debt.

In the past three weeks Jonathan has had four new clients – an increase compared to last year.

He is seeing more and more people coming in who are struggling to pay for electricity or heating costs.

“Most people I see are on benefits, and they are just on a very low income and they just cannot cope by the time they have paid their rent and got food.

“They then have hardly got anything left. It really is hand to mouth.”

And he says due to this, there has also been an increase in the number of clients reporting mental health issues. “The thing we noticed too is mental health problems – anxiety and panic attacks – have increased by 80 per cent among our clients, and we’ve noticed that the number of people that have told us that they have considered suicide has increased to about 30 per cent.

“Finance is often just the tip of the iceberg – there are other things going on.”

Living in the middle of a cost of living crisis, Jonathan does not see the problems easing any time soon, with further energy increases expected later this year adding to the strain.

And rising energy costs is a big problem CAP are seeing in Fermanagh, with fuel increases and home heating oil on the up in such a rural part of the country.

“I can’t see this ending soon at all, and I think in October when there is a change in the fuel cap on heating and gas, that’s going to be a big increase again.”

He is urging those who are struggling with debt to get in touch with CAP to start their journey out of debt together.

“On average, the statistics show it takes about two years or 18 months for people who are in debt to recognise they have a problem they can’t deal with themselves.

“And that in itself is a shame, because often once CAP can start helping them and creditors know they have got an agency dealing with the debt for them, that takes some of the pressure off the client.

“What we do is give freepost envelopes to our clients and say, ‘If you get anything from your creditors, just send it to us and we’ll speak to them, and we’ll deal with them’. And that in itself takes an enormous pressure off the clients.

“Because the longer it goes on that they let the [debt] envelopes pile up, the more the debt gets worse.

“The sooner that people recognise they have got a problem and involve us, then the less the problem is for a start, and the quicker they feel better about it,” Jonathan added.

If you need help to break free from debt, contact debt-help charities such as CAP at freephone 0800 328 0006, or visit capuk.org today.