Photo:
Gesa Kitschke, Managing Director of Diakonie Altholstein
Jasmin Berg, Head of Debt Counseling at Diakonie Altholstein
Carsten Hillgruber, First City Councillor of the City of Neumünster
The team at the debt and insolvency advice center is doing its best to meet the increasing demand, but is itself facing a dilemma: like many other debt advice centers in Schleswig-Holstein, the advice center in Neumünster is also experiencing financial difficulties. This is due to the rise in operating costs as a result of inflation and adjustments to personnel costs in line with collective wage agreements. On the other hand, the state has not adjusted the funding for insolvency counseling for years. In Neumünster, this meant that in the second half of 2023, an administrative position with 23 hours per week could not be filled due to a lack of funding.
"Our employees are stretched to their limits to meet the constantly increasing demand under the current conditions," explains Gesa Kitschke, Managing Director of Diakonie Altholstein, and demands: "The state urgently needs to make adjustments here - the fact that we cannot help people who have already found their way to us for advice because there is a lack of capacity in the area of insolvency advice is untenable." Specifically, Kitschke is concerned with an annual dynamization of the funding amount in line with collective wage increases.
Debt counseling Effects of the crises noticeable
While insolvency counseling is funded by the state, debt counseling is financed by the city of Neumünster. "The city of Neumünster sees the high demand for debt counseling and has decided to absorb the increased material and personnel costs for 2024 and 2025. We are grateful to have a reliable partner at our side in the city," says Kitschke.
In the area of debt counseling, the number of people seeking advice in 2023 was 13% higher than the previous year at 744 cases. The number of new inquiries even increased by 35%. The background to this is the coronavirus crisis and now the price increases as a result of the war in Ukraine, which are pushing more and more people on low incomes to their financial limits.
"People on low incomes have to spend proportionally more money on housing costs and food than people on higher incomes. Many people who come to us for advice are asking themselves where else they can save when the costs of the most basic necessities in life, such as housing, energy and food, continue to rise," explains Berg. If an unexpected event such as unemployment, separation or illness is added to this, the step towards over-indebtedness is only a small one.
"This makes it all the more important that the state and the city of Neumünster work hand in hand," says Carsten Hillgruber, first councillor of the city of Neumünster. "Because if the transfer to insolvency counseling is not successful in such a situation, then our help is a drop in the ocean."
Debtor and insolvency advice
Gartenstraße 28
24534 Neumünster
Opening hours
Monday - Friday 08:30 - 12:00
Tuesday and Thursday 14:00 - 17:00
Contact
Phone 04321 25052700
Email schuldnerberatung(at)diakonie-altholstein.de