A FINANCIAL counselling service that provides free advice to the needy will lose one of its three counsellors after being stripped of state government funding.
Wesley Mission at Sutherland has provided free advice to 300 clients so far this year.
But those facing financial hardship will wait longer for help from December 1 after NSW Fair Trading withdrew funding for one of the service's three counsellors.
The Reverend Chester Carter, program manager for Wesley Mission's financial services stretching from the city to the south coast, said clients would face a longer wait after funding for a full-time counsellor at Sutherland was lost.
And he said it could not come at a worse time, with financial stresses often building in the lead-up to Christmas.
"December and in fact January and February are our busiest times," Mr Carter said. "Creditors send out letters of demand around this time.
"We will not be able to service the same amount of people as last year.
"The clients we see cannot afford to pay us. That is the beauty of our service: it is free.
"Now they will have to be referred to our other service in the city."
Mr Carter said many clients were in dire straits.
"They are not making any money. Because of that they are getting evicted," he said.
"People get very anxious. They are getting letters of demand.
"The waiting list will blow out certainly to three or four weeks, which is unacceptable."
Mr Carter said demand at Sutherland was "pretty big" so he could not understand why funding was cut.
A NSW Fair Trading spokeswoman said the 2012-15 Financial Counselling Services Program provided free financial counselling by accredited counsellors.
"Following an independent review of financial counselling services that identified gaps in the availability of services, Fair Trading has applied a needs-based funding formula to ensure more equitable access to financial counselling services across NSW," she said.
"The new funding model identifies a number of regions which did not receive funding at all under the old model or where there was duplication in the availability of services."
The spokeswoman said Fair Trading provided $134,528 a year to two service providers in the Hurstville and Sutherland areas.
"Following an open tender process, the Salvation Army was the successful applicant to operate the new region of southern Sydney commencing December 1, 2012," she said.
"This region will receive a total of $283,692 [a year] to service the local government areas of Rockdale, Kogarah, Hurstville and Sutherland."
Under stress
A WESLEY Mission report found four in 10 NSW households did not have a budget while one third of those with budgets did not follow them.
The study of more than 620 households also revealed eight out of 10 households had no savings and many struggled with the idea of reducing expenses to deal with financial hardship.
Seven out of 10 financially-stressed households never paid off credit cards.
Almost half of those under financial stress suffered physical or mental ill health, while a third experienced relationship problems, including divorce and domestic violence. A quarter reported using alcohol and drugs to cope and one in 10 gambled.
GETTING HELP
Wesley Mission chief executive, the Reverend Keith Garner said: ‘‘Living with financial stress hurts more than the hip pocket so it’s important that people seek support sooner rather than later.’’
Wesley Mission offers a range of services to help those experiencing financial hardship.
A financial counselling service is available at Sutherland.
The centre also offered free financial health checks to coincide with MoneySmart Week in September.
Wesley Mission runs a financial literacy program for specific community or ethnic groups in St George and Sutherland Shire.
A credit line service offering confidential over-the-phone advice and counselling to people experiencing financial crisis is also available 9.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Details: http://wesleymission.org.au
Credit line: 1800 808 488.
