A Day in the Life of a Debt Advisor
It’s Monday and for most people, it’s a reluctant start to yet one more week of work. But for our Money Team, it’s another week of helping people gain back control of their lives. Kevin, our Senior Debt Advisor, is back in at the Brent Hubs to support clients who desperately need his advice. Kevin has been working at the Hubs since 2019, first starting as a volunteer. Advice for Renters even referred clients to him until he joined our team on a part-time basis.
The Brent Hubs have become a key asset to the local community since the launch of the project in 2017. They became a cornerstone for those seeking out information advice and support for money issues, as well as housing and employment. The Cost-of-Living Crisis has only seen demand surge for these services. Many people are finding it increasingly difficult to stay afloat with living costs spiralling out of control. Back in April, the Money Charity reported that 5.4 properties were repossessed every day in October to December 2022 in the UK. This amounts to one property being repossessed every 4 hours and 25 minutes. Debt advice calls in March 2023 increased by 14.6% compared to March 2022, with the top three categories being fuel debt, council tax arrears, and credit, store and charge card debts.
A closer look at Brent, Advice for Renters’ home borough, shows that it was considered the Covid European epicentre during the pandemic’s first wave and had the greatest proportion of furloughed workforce on a national scale. This had a domino effect on those who were already struggling to bring in an income, as 1 in 3 Brent locals live below the poverty threshold. Brent has the highest poverty rate in London behind Tower Hamlets, and Advice for Renters has found through our work that many residents rely on Universal Credit after losing the jobs or becoming too ill to work. Hence it is no surprise that residents continue to lean on the Brent Hubs as a source of support. Advisors like Kevin are an indispensable part of the lifeline offered to the community. That’s why having a sit-down with him to discuss his work seemed to be the most obvious route to illustrating what it is that Advice for Renters does for those on a vulnerable footing.
While no case is the same and each requires varying actions to resolve, Kevin’s results are the opposite; his consistency in sorting out clients’ cases is his badge of honour. Thanks to his close working relationships with specific departments within Brent Council, he is well-known to local authority officials as someone who can resolve a client case with relative ease.
He attributes his efficiency to his paralegal background,
but he also explained to me how his paralegal knowledge has helped him get creative with his ways of helping clients. Thus, every working day and each case he takes on are different. Not only does he take on clients from the Hubs, other organisations and local authorities, including Brent Council, have also referred their own clients to him due to his ability to completely bypass any complicated bureaucratic barriers. “I don’t ski uphill,” he jests. He explains how he usually goes straight to the top of the food chain first, choosing to directly reach out to executive decision makers at the correct department within the Council. They may then pass his query down to more junior colleagues, such as caseworkers and other advisors, to get things done. “People don’t seem to like it, but I’m doing the best I can for the customer.”
One such case was Maya*, who was referred to Kevin via Brent Council. Maya, a Brent local, had an outstanding debt of just under £4,000 relating to a backdated Discretionary Housing Payment to support her with housing costs. Prior to her case being sent to him, it had been ongoing for 3 months with a Brent Hub advisor. Her case had been passed around from advisor to advisor, leaving her feeling downtrodden and dejected. Within 4 weeks of her referral to Kevin, he was able to get her money back. He notes that what has made his job easier is because he “put the challenge on the right person’s
desk”. While this may not mean much to those unaffected by such problems, for Maya, he managed to alleviate a huge burden from her shoulders. In an email addressed to him and the Advice for Renters Money Team, Maya wrote:
“Without his assistance I do not believe they would have paid. I am so grateful the difference that it has made and the relief to my mental well-being is insurmountable. Your [sic] lucky to have such a person on your team [sic] he immediately grasped the seriousness of the issue and acted fast. I’m very grateful.”
Such an outcome is sure to be moving for someone like Kevin. After watching family members lose their homes to debt, he wanted to learn more about it and how to help lift people out of such precarious situations. “These things shouldn’t be happening […] There was a time when I was so ignorant of all this stuff,” he mentioned to me as he reminisced about the past. However, he remained upbeat as he reminisced. He boils it down to how this job has had a positive impact on his life, as he can look back and see how he could’ve helped his family out of the difficult position they were in. Due to his personal proximity to such an experience, this has helped him channel empathy into the emotional labour required by his role. “They come to me from a heightened anxiety level,” he explains. In order to calm clients down, he often details his familiarity to their circumstances and to get them to better understand the information he’s trying to relay.
As a result of his hard work, he was recognised last year by an award for debt services provided to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Community Advice Centre (BHCAC) beneficiaries. It was presented to him by the Mayor of Brent and one of the trustees from BHCAC, as shown below.
*Name changed to protect client’s identity