A charity working to support thousands of women across Lancashire is collaborating with partners to tackle the growing concern of hoarding among its clients.

Lancashire Women, which supports around 5,000 women each year to improve their lives and push through barriers they face, is working with the falls team at the local council as well as the local fire service to support people who have hoarding disorders.

It comes after they have seen a rise in the number of people presenting in such situations. And they say issues may not have come to light without their need for energy support.

Mandy Taylor, Senior Programme Manager at Lancashire Women, said: “It’s been more of a concern since we started doing home visits. Our energy advice service is actually a way in to find people with such a condition. They often come to us with an energy issue and only when we step into the property do we know that there is a hoarding issue.”

“We’ve seen a lot of it. These are some really vulnerable people – men, women, younger, older, it’s a mental health condition that doesn’t just affect a certain person.

“Most of the people we see are single, though. There’s usually an underlying mental health condition, sometimes it’s to do with loneliness and often it’s a hangover from the pandemic.

“When we see people, it’s sometimes the first time they have let someone else into their home in months or years. It’s a huge journey for them.”

According to national charity Hoarding UK, hoarding is more common in males, but more females present for support and only 5% of people with a hoarding disorder come to the attention of professionals. They also say that hoarding often becomes a significant problem for people in their 30s.

Recognising this trend, the Lancashire Women team have undertaken training to help them understand more about the condition and the support available to people.

The charity works in collaboration with a network of other partners across the region to support people with a hoarding condition, signposting to therapeutic support, social services and practical support such as mini clearance teams and storage solutions where necessary.

Mandy added: “We go to untidy homes quite a lot, but this is different. We’ve seen people living in their hallway because they can’t get to other areas of their home. It’s not just about hoarding anything, it’s about the attachment people have to their items – there’s usually a reason why people haven’t been able to throw something away. So, it’s about understanding that.

“Sometimes it’s just about showing that people can be supported, sometimes it’s about restarting family conversations. We take a collaborative approach, and importantly only when the person themselves is ready to do it. But because they’ve usually proactively approached us for support about something else, they’re usually willing to accept support around other issues. It’s all about starting the conversation and building that rapport up with someone.”

To find money and energy advice local to you, please click here.