Debt needs to be viewed from multiple angles to find the right solution - Vikki Brownridge

That’s because unsurprisingly problem debt is often accompanied by other challenges. Whether that be poor physical or mental health, bereavement, relationship breakdown, unemployment, unforeseen costs, addiction, or caring responsibilities, these are just some of the circumstances that so often go hand-in-hand with financial difficulty. Often, even working out the ‘chicken or the egg’ question of what came first, the financial pressure or the life pressure, can be a puzzle in itself.

But either way, when people have these other kinds of issues going on in their lives, their problems won’t be solved if we look only at their financial situation and don’t recognise the importance of other support.

At StepChange, we work with many different kinds of organisations to ensure that our clients don’t end up with gaps in support. Other reputable debt advice organisations also do this. Yet we know that when people hear the words debt advice, it’s easy to assume that we’re just talking about a financial issue. Sometimes that’s the case, but often people experiencing financial pressure need support with other areas of their life at the same time. We want to demystify this a bit, and make sure that people understand the complex web of services and support that sit behind the shorthand phrase of ‘debt advice’ – or at least our version of it.

That’s why we work with so many other organisations who can help, and it’s why we’re the first to recognise where our expertise stops, and someone else’s is needed. From Mind and the Royal National Institute for the Blind to Macmillan, Gamcare and Rethink, we work with more than 300 organisations to ensure our clients can get easy access to support services that complement our own, and we also constantly evaluate where we need to bring in additional support services or enhance existing ones so that we can support our clients to the utmost of our ability.

It’s also why we’re doing our best to step up to our wider role as the largest provider of free debt advice and solutions, pulling together discussions and collaborating on best practice with other reputable debt advice organisations so that we can learn from each other and improve the quality of services that all our clients receive. Sadly though, it’s important to know that not everyone involved in the business of setting up debt solutions operates in this way. Some commercial providers of debt solutions will not only charge people in debt for the services that we provide for free, they also don’t necessarily make the effort to put in place this additional wider web of support sitting behind their services. Yet this isn’t necessarily clear or obvious to the layperson or someone in a financial crisis.

The reality is that we can’t solve people’s problems holistically if we look at only one thing – debt – in isolation. If you ever need help, or if you know someone who does, do try to make sure you turn to someone who will look at the big picture, not just the individual piece of the jigsaw.

Vikki Brownridge is chief executive of StepChange Debt Charity, based in Leeds.