A WORCESTER charity which provides a lifeline to desperate people who have fallen into debt could close within a year because of lack of funding.

Two Pennies Money Advice is based in the Angel Centre in Angel Place, Worcester, but clients say staff and volunteers are the real angels for helping dig them out of debt when many had given up all hope.

But now the money advice agency needs a guardian angel of its own because it is set to run out of funds in the next nine months after a major backer pulled the plug on funding.

The service is all the more important because the majority of these clients are extremely vulnerable.

Nine out of 10 have either mental health problems, learning difficulties or physical disabilities.

Some were on the brink of suicide until the charity stepped in to give them vital advice and practical and emotional support.

The charity's money advisers are sometimes all that stands between their clients and homelessness, despair and even death.

The award-winning charity, established in March 2002, is set to run out of money within the next nine months, leaving clients with less support at a time when the demand for debt support and advice in the wake of a long recession and Government and council cuts has never been higher.

One client, who did not wish to be named, said: “Petula Taitt (one of the money advisers) has worked wonders with my debt.

"She has been like an angel to me and has managed to clear so much of my debt which has been of great relief.”

Another client said: "Before attending my appointments with Two Pennies Money Advice I could not see a way out of my financial difficulties.

"The situation had made me very ill and depressed. I have nothing but praise for your adviser Peter Chudley.

"He talked me through the process of putting my finances back on track.

"It feels as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you so much."

The independent charity provides confidential support and advice to more than 200 vulnerable people a year across Worcestershire through a small team (three part-time staff and two volunteers). They have already been forced to let one of their advisers go.

The biggest blow came from the withdrawal of funding by Redditch Borough Council.

The council had provided £37,000 for a single year but this has fallen year-on-year to £20,000 in 2015/16 and to zero for the coming financial year which begins in April.

The charity’s general manager Karen McConnell said: “It seems so wrong we’re not able to get funding to do this work.

"At the moment it is critical. But councils are struggling for money which has a knock on effect on us.

"Lots and lots of charities are going to fall and it is only when they do that people realise how important they really are.”

The charity provides budgeting advice, manages debt relief orders, bankruptcy and works to support each client for sometimes nine hours each, negotiating with creditors on behalf of clients.

The advisers are trained, qualified and experienced, all members of the Institute of Money Advisers.

Mrs McConnell said: “They’re the people who really need the help. There’s often nowhere else for them to go.

"I am very worried for these people. We have had more than enough people threatening suicide over the years.

"We did have one person commit suicide. That is how desperate people are. If we turn them away, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Mrs McConnell expects to lose her own job when funding for her own position runs out at the end of June.

She would be willing to carry on volunteering but would not be able to do as many hours without a salary.

Locally the charity has received strong support from local churches and some businesses – St Peter’s Baptist Church, City Church in Worcester and Grace Church, Kempsey and some funding from Harrison Clark Rickerbys solicitors.

But despite this generosity, for which the charity is immensely grateful, this money is not enough in itself to meet the growing needs of their clients.

Running costs are around £55,000 a year and the charity has been forced to eat into reserves to make ends meet but this is not sustainable and the charity is projected to run out of funding in nine months.

They have only been able to delay the fall of the axe because of a recent grant of £5,000 from the Foyle Foundation, an independent grant-making trust.

The charity pays a peppercorn rent of £180 a quarter for four rooms thanks to the generosity of the United Reformed Church but even then the charity operates on a shoestring.

Mrs McConnell: “Until that money came through we had been set to close. It remains absolutely a risk. We will carry on making funding applications. Our money advisers go above and beyond the call of duty for their clients because we all care about them.”

The charity would like to hear from anyone who can help them.

The telephone number for the charity is 01905 27001.