The number of people in Northumberland accessing a debt relief scheme opened to provide financial support during the coronavirus pandemic has risen by nearly a third last year, new figures show.
Across England and Wales, there was a 25 per cent jump in the number of people registering for "breathing space" from debt last year.
Debt relief charity StepChange said the rise is "encouraging", with the scheme successfully delivering good outcomes for people facing financial difficulty.
A standard breathing space application is available to people with problem debt and gives legal protections from creditor action for up to 60 days. They can be entered into once a year.
People can also apply for a mental health breathing space, which lasts the duration of their mental health treatment plus 30 days.
Figures from the Insolvency Service show 445 people in Northumberland registered for a standard or mental health breathing space in 2023 – up from 346 the year before.
It meant the breathing space rate was 16.7 per 10,000 adults in the area.
Breathing spaces were introduced in May 2021 to help people facing financial difficulties because of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 200,000 total breathing spaces have been registered since the inception of the scheme.
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