04.03.22

I have never been in problem debt. I am white, British, middle class, and healthy. These are advantages I'm very aware of, particularly when, as is true most days, I am working with do not have them.

But even so, I sometimes have to stop myself throwing my hands up and shouting, Well why did you do that?

This week, I finally see a client I've been trying to arrange an appointment with for a while. Her elderly mother also attends. There's a whole lot of letters (we just want your most recent water bill, not the last three years' worth!), and in amongst them is a letter from her housing provider, dated two weeks ago. It turns out that in January, before she ever contacted us, this client received a Suspended Possession Order (SPO) for rent arrears. And since that SPO, she has made no payments at all.

I don't think I physically roll my eyes. I scrap my plans for the appointment and instead we spend most of it talking to the housing provider and setting up a Standing Order to at least meet the terms of the court order.

We get there. The wolves are back from the door. We've not even talked about Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs), or looked at the other debts. But the crisis has been averted, and we have another appointment booked in.

Near the end of the session, the mother says something in her native language. The daughter laughs. "She asks why I'm still here when you haven't got me more money."

I grit my teeth, and carry on.