A CHARITY has been given funding to help tackle debt in one of the most deprived rural areas in the country.

Wear Valley Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) will be able to offer more support for people with debt problems after it was given a Government grant.

The area has one of the highest levels of debt in the region, but the CAB has been given the provision to employ two new counsellors.

The bureau is one of nearly 200 in England and Wales to receive money from the Government's £45m financial inclusion fund, which aims to provide more debt advice.

The money will help fund the training and administration costs of employing two new specialists to cope with the level of debt which, as it has nationally, has soared in Wear Valley in the past ten years.

CAB manager Peter Singer said that as well as being able to provide more advice from its base at Bishop Auckland's Four Clocks Centre, the bureau would also be aiming to spread its coverage and services.

He said: "We are hoping to provide debt advice with outreach sessions, possibly in Coundon and Crook, just to make it easier for people who can't always get to Bishop Auckland.

"Debt is rising up here, both the amount of people suffering it and the amounts of money that people are in debt. There are a lot of people who have real problems. Sometimes it just seems to be never-ending and increases year on year. Wear Valley is above average, so it's good that this funding has come along."

The debt workers will help establish the extent of clients' debt problems, prioritise debts, give advice on drawing up a budget and reducing expenditure and negotiate with creditors and help the client respond to court action. They will also give advice on other ways to deal with the debt problem.

The funding is over the next two years and takes effect from this summer, but Mr Singer said that he hoped it would prove invaluable enough to be repeated.

"If we can show it's a success, and use the funding to help people get financially stable, hopefully somebody will say this is worth continuing with," he said.

"We are pleased to have received this funding and are looking forward to it taking effect."