Greenkeeping charity saw client numbers double in 2016

By Alistair March 21, 2017 06:44 Updated

A charity that offers help to greenkeepers who are struggling with financial issues has said it saw an almost 100 percent increase in the use of its ‘advice only’ service in 2016.

Perennial, which provides support and information to people who work in horticulture, said the demand for its service, which is delivered by caseworkers and debt advisers, usually by telephone was so high that it extended its monthly late night telephone advice service to weekly (every Wednesday from 12:00pm to 8:30pm).

Speaking about the decision to extend the service, Sheila Thomson, director of services at Perennial, said: “The majority of our clients are of working age and we know it can be difficult for many to contact us during working hours. We introduced the monthly late advice service to ensure we give everyone the chance to speak to us at a time convenient to them. We expect our extended weekly telephone advice service to be well-used and that numbers of clients using this ‘lighter’ version of Perennial’s full service will significantly rise again in 2017.”

Perennial’s specialist debt advice service also saw a significant increase in 2016 – client numbers increased by 22.5 percent year on year – suggesting that this area is a growing concern for UK horticulturists.

In 2017, Perennial assisted its clients in accessing over £1.5million in direct financial help.

This included over £420,000 in direct financial aid. The majority of these funds were used for day-to-day living grants and debt clearance, plus nearly £1.04 million of statutory benefits (including backdated benefits owed) that caseworkers assisted clients in claiming, over £33,000 in grants and funds from other sources and a further £2,500 gained by the Debt Advice Team from other sources such as refunds from miss-sold PPI.

In addition, Perennial negotiated £91,000 of debt write-offs for clients in 2016.

In 2016 new clients made up approximately a third of all clients who received Perennial’s full service with a higher percentage of new clients in the south of England compared to the north of England and Scotland.

Perennial has seen a year-on-year increase in the number of people using its specialist debt advice service since its launch in 2007. A total of 375 people were helped last year – over a quarter of all those helped by Perennial needed help with debt. Many of the clients had fallen into debt due to injury at work, long-term illness or unexpected unemployment due to redundancy.