Nearly one in ten Scotland have seen their mental health and well being affected by spiralling debt, it has emerged.
A new campaign is encouraging people to seek advice if they are worried about their debts, as research showed over 660,000 people in Scotland cite debt as impacting their mental health.
Two weeks ago the Herald revealed the that an 'extraordinary' energy bill debt mountain which os plaguing the nation has doubled in size in the space of three years with the most vulnerable Scots estimated to be owing over £260m.
Calls are being made for urgent government intervention to write off much of what is owed by the most vulnerable in the continuing cost of living crisis and curtail the rising mountain of energy debt which stood at £2.91bn across the UK at the end of September.
Analysis by the energy market regulator Ofgem, seen by the Herald, shows that £1bn has been added to a debt mountain across the UK in the last year alone with some £2.916bn owed on energy bills as of the end of September, last year.
Three years before energy prices started to surge it was at £1.549bn.
READ MORE: Revealed: Scots energy bill debt mountain estimated at £260m
The current levels of debt, which take into account those who have been arrears for over 91 days, are at their highest level since Ofgem began its round of tracking in 2018.
Scotland is also sitting on a council tax debt mountain of over £1.3bn while concerns grow that a continuing cost of living crisis will continue to deepen public debt.
Government records based on council returns seen by the Herald show that debt levels have hit record levels while collection rates have remained fairly static.
The debt mountain equates to nearly half the £2.837bn expected to be collected in council tax from Scots households in 2022/23.
At the end of the financial year council tax outstanding within the 12 months has risen by over 12% since the pandemic from £96.947 in 2018/19 to £108.771m in 2022/23.
At March 31, the end of the 2022/23 financial year, Scotland's cumulative council tax debt mountain recorded from 1999/00 has grown to £1.343bn. It was at £1.157bn in 2019/20.
Some £42.366m of the debt dates back ten years or more.
Citizens Advice Scotland is launching Stressed about Debt? today (Monday) to encourage people who are worried about their bills or stressed about debt to seek advice.
Analysis of polling from research company YouGov suggests around 665,148 of people in Scotland have seen their mental health and wellbeing affected by debt.
CAS says that since last spring Citzen Advice Bureaux have helped write off over £11 million worth of debt, with the average amount written off being over £12,600 per client.
CAS financial health spokesperson Sarah Jayne Dunn said: “There is a clear link between money and mental health and that will have been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.
“Hundreds of thousands of people across the country, through no fault of their own have fallen behind on bills and find themselves in debt. Some people will be in debt for the first time, others will have seen their existing debt get worse.
“There’s no shame in having debt, and it’s completely understandable to be stressed and anxious about it. For many people, debt is something they ignore until it builds up and becomes overwhelming.
“That’s why we’ve launched the Stressed about Debt campaign, to encourage people who are worried to seek advice and not let those worries build up until they are suffocating."
Last year, anti fuel poverty groups warned of a rise in debt due to unaffordable energy prices - as figures showed the numbers of Scots households living in fuel poverty has soared by over 40% in three years.
According to Scottish Government modelling estimates, from October 2022, there were around 860,000 households in fuel poverty in Scotland - around 35% of homes.
That is 247,000 more than in 2019 when the last Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) showed 613,000 households were in fuel poverty - around 25% of homes.
Fuel poverty relates to households that must spend a high proportion of their household income to keep their home at a reasonable temperature. It is affected by three key factors - a household’s income, their fuel costs, and their energy consumption, which in turn is affected by the energy efficiency of the home.
It is defined in Scotland, that after housing costs, the total fuel costs needed to maintain a satisfactory heating regime are more than 10% of the household’s total taxable income.
Alex Cumming, executive director of operations at Scottish Action for Mental Health said: “Poor mental health can be a factor in building up debt, and debt can result in mental health problems, including stress and anxiety. Debt and mental health problems often form a vicious circle, and it’s important to seek help for both.
“At SAMH, we hear time and again from the people we support, including those who contact our information service, that they are experiencing issues with money at the same time as needing help with their mental health.
“We welcome Citizens Advice Scotland’s campaign and encourage anyone who is stressed about debt to take that first step towards getting the support they need.”
Scottish Government housing minister Paul McLennan MSP added: “I welcome this important and timely campaign from Citizens Advice Scotland. Advice services play a critical role in helping people to navigate the current cost crisis and to access the support and information they need. The cost-of-living crisis is putting a huge strain on households which is why the Scottish Government is doing all it can to deliver support.
“This year we will invest over £12.5 million in a range of advice services providing free income maximisation, welfare and debt advice. This includes more than £4.45 million to Citizens Advice Scotland and the network of Bureaux for the Money Talk Team, which offers free confidential and holistic advice. Access to free, confidential and impartial advice through the CAB network, either online or in person, can make a massive difference for people.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here