News & Views

This week the Unite Debt Advice Network took to the streets of central London to protest the cuts to debt advice services. At a time when the need for debt advice is rising and cases are becoming more complex we need a significant increase in investment. Instead funding is being cut by around 20% and the Money and Pensions Service is trying to get 'more for less' by concentrating funding on digital and telephone services.

Debt advisers working in local Citizens Advice Bureaux and community-based independent advice agencies could soon be facing redundancy due to cuts in their grant funding from the Money and Pensions Service ('MaPS') and protests against the cuts will be taking place outside DWP, HM Treasury, and MaPS offices on Monday.

In November 2022, the FCA identified several serious failings with the current system of credit information reporting. These included poor governance arrangements, systemic inhibitors to innovation, and a lack of comprehensive and accurate reporting. In this blog, we provide our reflections on the FCA's proposed remedies and argue that fundamental changes are needed to the types of information being collected and reported.

In this blog we provide an update about our innovative FlexMyRent scheme, and report on the challenges being posed by the cost-of-living crisis.