Liverpool Life Vol2 issue 1

Page 1

FAMILIES ON THE BRINK 1st - October - 2013

Get help, says charity as more rely on pay day loans to buy food

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IN THE

A penguin chick taking a dip in the ‘baby’ pool at Chester Zoo by Claire Bynoe

Five new penguin chicks have started their toddler training at Chester Zoo. The Humboldt penguins, born earlier this year, have moved into the nursery pool at the zoo to learn some penguin protocol and properness. Lead Keeper, Anne Morris, said: “The chicks, which are the penguin equivalent of toddlers, have settled into our penguin crèche really well indeed. We have a small, shallow nursery pool which is the ideal place for them to take their first swim.”

During their time at the nursery pool, the penguins will learn how to swim, hunt and feed in water. Anne added: “All five of the chicks are coming along nicely and it shouldn’t be too long until they all ‘graduate’ and join the rest of the colony in our main pool.” Each year, zoo keepers name their new animal additions after a certain theme. Last year in 2012, they named many animals after the British Olympics. This year, the new penguins were named after icons from the hit TV show Doctor Who. The first penguin that hatched was aptly named as The Doctor while the remaining

by Jack Horrocks

four were called Dalek, TARDIS, Gallifrey and Sonic. Keeper Karen Neech said: “Dalek, TARDIS and Gallifrey are showing a great appetite for learning but The Doctor is of course top of the class. Sonic is a little further behind the others but given a few more lessons, we’re sure he’ll catch up.” Humboldt penguins are an endangered South American species, known to live on the coastal areas of Peru and Chile. When fully mature the penguins will be able to travel through the water at speeds of up to 25mph. Chester Zoo now have a colony of more than 40.

Young Liverpool families are amongst the thousands of people turning to payday lenders to fund for essentials like food, energy and housing costs, according to research by a debt charity, Christians Against Poverty (CAP). Lynda Cooper, Branch Manager at the Liverpool Bootle Debt Centre said: “We currently deal with 12 to 15 payday loans at a time and this is becoming a major issue in Liverpool. Many of our clients are in their 20s and often on low pay, benefits or have a family to provide for and are turning to short term payday loans to support them.” CAP is a UK charity determined to reduce poverty through free debt counselling, financial education, and the CAP Money Course, which tackles unemployment. Research presented by CAP showed that they had asked 1,500 of its clients in the UK seeking debt counselling if they had taken payday loans, 22% said that they had, more than 80% had taken out at least two, and 16% said they had lost count of how many times they had used payday loans. Liverpool Bootle Debt Centre is run in partnership with Northfield Church and gives free help to anyone in debt, with the Church being used to set up food banks and client aid, as well as offering various support to clients. Ms Cooper also highlighted the process behind becoming a Credit Union member and the difficulties people can face. She said: “To become a Credit Union

member you often have to wait for up to 13 weeks to become an official member, which means you cannot borrow money until your membership is confirmed which in the meantime leads to increased interest rates.” She added: “To help our clients, we look for disposable income and negotiate with payday lenders in order to try and release their financial burden.” CAP’s chief executive, Matt Barlow, said: “This evidence shows that people taking out payday loans are not, typically, doing cosy house repairs as most payday lenders would have us believe.” He added: “People who take out this expensive sort of credit are hungry, worried about keeping warm and becoming homeless.” The payday loans market has boomed over the last few years with more and more people struggling to make ends meet. Borrowing is designed to be over a fixed period of time and interest rates and charges are high so any debts can quickly snowball. Critics also warn that borrowers can get trapped in a spiral of debt, using new loans to repay existing borrowing. Lenders claim to carry out checks before they offer loans, but CAP said a fifth of those using them had not been asked if they were working and almost three-quarters had not been asked about their outgoings. Marianne Clough, from Christians Against Poverty said: “Do something today and get help. There are lots of people out there who can help you, no matter how bad it looks.”

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