Government refuses loans to almost 130,000 low-income families in the North West
February 1, 2009 8:58 PM
Campaigner Karen Henshaw
128,650 pensioners and families in the North West had their application for a crisis loan turned down by the Government last year, figures highlighted by the Fylde Liberal Democrats have revealed.
Applications for the loans, aimed at low-income families and pensioners unable to get credit elsewhere, rose by more than 68% last year to 456940. The figures come at a time when the Government is encouraging banks to increase lending.
Karen Henshaw, Fylde Liberal Democrats Spokesman said, "People who apply for crisis loans are desperate and have nowhere else to turn, yet too often they get turned away when they should be getting help.
"It is very worrying that with the recession hitting the Fylde hard, even more people will turn to the Government for help. Yet the evidence for the past year is that more and more people will be turned away by Government run Job Centre Plus.
"At a time when the Government is demanding that the banks lend more, here we have the Government itself doing the opposite.
"The Government has got to practice what it preaches to the banks and make more cash available to families through these loans," said Karen Henshaw
Notes to Editors
1. Crisis Loans are paid by the Social Fund to help people who are unable to get credit elsewhere meet expenses in an emergency or because of a disaster.
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