A day in the life with Paul Bailie from CAP

Day In Life pic - Paul Bailie, from Christians Against Poverty. US1422-501cd Picture: Cliff Donaldson

The service which was only recently established in Lisburn works in partnership with the care of local churches and offers the service free of charge to everyone regardless of age, gender, faith or background.

I am retired so I am able to carry out my work with CAP throughout the day. I do my paper work at my own house but I visit all my clients, with a volunteer, in their own home. I will try and learn as much as I can about the situation over a visit that can last up to two hours.

The charity does all the negotiating with creditors and myself local volunteers offer support to each person face-to-face until the day they are debt free.

Typically, debts can build up when a relationship breaks down, or someone loses their job, or through bereavement.

All the creditors’ demands and unanswered bills are taken away and sent to the Charity’s head office in Bradford, west Yorkshire, where the size of the debt and the client’s income is calculated. The person is given a pile of free-post envelopes to ensure any other creditors’ letters are sent on for cap to deal with.

Staff then begin negotiations with each of the creditors and a proposed budget for the client is set, to help them in the process of paying back what they owe or access insolvency options via the charity’s own award-winning team.

When I am not meeting clients I might be meeting church representatives and speaking with the volunteers as well as organising ways to promote that CAP is available to local people. Word of mouth is spreading since we started in Lisburn which is great.

The church has always been about offering hope and we’re really pleased to be able to give a tried-and-tested route out of debt alongside other great free advice in the area like Citizens Advice,

There is a lot in the Bible about looking after the poorest. In our society, a lot of poverty is debt-related so our congregations have been working hard to open a CAP centre to help get people back on track.

We’re just so pleased to be able to partner the care of Lisburn churches with the financial expertise of CAP’s head office. It is wonderfully fulfilling being able to help people in this way and it does feel worthwhile.

To find out more log onto www.capuk.org or call 0800 328 0006.