Tim Ball

Over 35,000 people in the South West have been turned down for a crisis loan in the last year, Liberal Democrat research has revealed. 

Applications for the loans, aimed at low income families and pensioners unable to get credit elsewhere, have risen nationally by more than 40% in the last year to 2.5m.  The figures come at a time when the Government is encouraging banks to continue to lend money. 

The average crisis loan is for about £75.

Commenting on the figures, Bath MP Don Foster said, “The Government has got to practice what it has been preaching to the banks and give loans to desperate families who have nowhere else to turn.

“These figures are even more worrying when we learn that, in the last year, inspectors overturned 57% of decisions on crisis loans made by Job Centre staff.  This means that almost 6 of 10 decisions made were wrong.

“Ministers need to make more cash available for these loans during the recession and make sure that Jobcentre staff get their decisions right.”