Government refuses crisis loans to 82,740 low-income families in the South East

11.06.41pm GMT Wed 4th Feb 2009

82, 740 pensioners and families in the South East Region had their application for a crisis loan turned down by the Government last year, figures highlighted by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

Applications for the loans, aimed at low-income families and pensioners unable to get credit elsewhere, rose by more than 111,900 (63%) last year to 289,330. The figures come at a time when the Government is encouraging banks to increase lending.

Peter Wilcock, Saffron Walden Lib Dem Parliamentary 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 South East hard, even more people will turn to the Government for help. Yet the evidence for the past year is that more and the Government run Job Centre Plus will turn more people away.

"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."