Become a debt centre

Name: Christians Against Poverty UK
Price range: $

Colourful hot air balloon flying in the sky.

Bringing hope to your community by running a debt centre through your church.

CAP’s debt help service offers free, professional debt counselling across the UK, through local churches. Our unique face-to-face visit model means those who work with us receive a bespoke service that includes emotional and practical support through a local church community.

The love from Sheila and the church was everything. My kids have their smiley, happy mum back and I’m still here to watch my grandchildren grow up.

Susanna – mum and grandma, now debt free

All you need to know about becoming a debt centre

What CAP provides

CAP provides your church with all the training and support you need to offer a professional debt counselling tool that’s proven to help some of the most vulnerable in society.

We do all the debt counselling centrally, including insolvency options, allowing your Debt Centre Manager to focus on supporting clients spiritually and practically. This means your church won’t have to worry about all the financial and legal knowledge, as our highly trained Debt Advisors at head office will take care of all that for you.

Debt counselling is now highly regulated, requiring authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). CAP is authorised by the FCA and covered by our insurance. CAP’s size and expertise mean that we have all the necessary permissions and a compliance team to stay on top of the regulation — an almost impossible task for a church to do on their own.

Clients can also book appointments and speak directly to their assigned caseworkers Monday to Friday.

What your church needs to do

In order to open a debt centre, you will need the following:

To recruit a Debt Centre Manager who can work a minimum of 16 hours week (either as a volunteer or as an employee of your church).
Access to a computer, internet and mobile phone.
Volunteers who are willing to support your Debt Centre Manager and CAP clients.
To book a CAP Speaker who will come and give a talk at a Sunday service, which will include a regular giving ask.

Running a debt centre will help your church to:

Reach people in debt and despair in your community.
Share God’s love in a relevant way.
Offer an award-winning debt counselling service.
See people released from debt and poverty.
See people saved and welcomed into your church community.

Cost

Opening a new debt centre incurs a significant cost to CAP (roughly £21k per year), but we exist to invest in local churches that want to help those in need and save the lost in their communities.

We don’t want cost to be a barrier for churches who are looking to launch a debt centre. As a result we have a variety of options available starting at £300 per month.

We offer fundraising training and consultancy to help you raise these funds. There may also be some flexibility in the contribution for churches in deprived areas or for smaller churches already engaged in a lot of social outreach.