Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Charity supporting people with hidden debt expect to help more after spate of North Sea job cuts

Wendy Flemming, third left, is the founder of Ditch Debt With Dignity
Wendy Flemming, third left, is the founder of Ditch Debt With Dignity

A charity specialising in supporting people with hidden debt is preparing to help even more following a spate of North Sea job cuts.

Recent weeks have seen redundancy announcements from Repsol Sinopec Resources UK, BP, Total and ConocoPhillips.

Wendy Fleming, who runs support group Ditch Debt with Dignity (DDWD), said the charity has seen an increase in activity in the last five weeks, and expects that to continue.

Set up in 2014, the charity provides a free and confidential service for people who are struggling with hidden debt problems.

Ms Fleming, who is a chartered financial planner, said the group can offer a “safe space” for anyone in need.

She said: “My concern is that there are people sitting at a laptop scared to open letters, scared to answer the phone, looking at an overdraft and unpaid bills and think ‘I used to earn a hundred grand a year’ or ‘I used to run an oil company, how have I managed to get in this position?’

“We take no judgement of that, anyone could find themselves in that position.”

Many of the charity’s clients are made up of people who were made redundant, had health issues or bereavement.

In the last six months DDWD has seen a range of people asking for help from within the energy sector, as well as people indirectly affected by the downturn.

The main concern from those in contact is over loss of a home but no clients have had that happen yet, although that can’t be guaranteed.

Ms Fleming added that the charity can provide a phased plan to “repay debt in a manageable fashion”.

She said: “We can open the letters, we can speak to your creditors with your authority.

“We will give you at least a month’s breathing space, sometimes six weeks, where you don’t need to make any payments whatsoever.

“After that we can negotiate with them on your authority to get lower payments.”

The charity is now appealing for more volunteers, or funding in order to pay for a part-time staff member.

Volunteers do not need financial experience, only “empathy and discretion”, and will go through training before seeing clients.

Anyone in need of the charity’s services can get in touch via e-mail: advice@ditchdebtwithdignity.com