Imprisonment is an option for many councils to enforce as a last resort if residents are wilfully refusing or are culpably neglectful to pay council tax in England. This month on the Debt Talk podcast Ripon Ray explored the ‘Prison & Council Tax’ . He invited Chris Daw KC and Russell Hamblin-Boone to find out whether it is fair and cost-effective to prison communities for non-payment of council tax. Chris Daw KC, a criminal law expert , explained the history of debtors' prisons in the UK and how they were used against impoverished communities. He emphasised how Margaret Thatcher’s government introduced imprisonment as an option based on politically driven ideology and how this policy could be changed by removing imprisonment from the council tax legislation. He highlights how costly it is to put someone in prison. Russell Hamblin-Boone outlined the changes in the enforcement industry and how it has adapted to meet the council's needs and identify financial and other vulner...

This survey is being conducted to understand, from the Bengali perspective, whether a Bengali debt advice and financial education service should be designed for the community.  Survey below:

  As part of the campaign to understand the needs of the Bengali community in the East End, Ripon Ray, a debt expert and author developed a survey to understand whether there is a genuine need for debt advice and financial education services in the East End solely for the benefit of the Bengali community and to influence global communities through innovative and tech tools.  The survey aims to understand whether the current advice and financial education provision meets the community's needs in light of the rising cost of living crisis.  London Bangla Press coordinated a Press Conference on 25 February at 2pm to raise awareness of the survey and the potential opportunities to explore such a need. Regardless of English language challenges, many of the local community of Bengali residents have already been in touch with Ripon through various platforms, including social media such as WhatsApp and other means to demonstrate their support and interest.  The current survey...

Consumer credit data held by credit reference and other organisations have become an essential part of the financial market, both in lending and borrowing and debt collection to make the financial sector sustainable. In this month’s Debt Talk podcast, Ripon Ray discussed a crucial topic: ‘Credit Ratings & Debt.’ To navigate the essential subject, he has representatives from two major global credit reference agencies - Experian and Equifax, the Registry Trust, which holds data on a money judgement, and the debt collection and purchaser trade body representative - Credit Services Association. James Jones from Experian spoke about its origin and current role in the financial services market. He explained the parameters in which credit reference agencies are data holders and how the agency gets information from lenders to make its data up-to-date and accurate for legitimate interest. He explored how the profiles of individuals are formed based on data collected and ways they develop c...

January is a month of cold weather, dark mornings, and possible failure in our New Year resolutions, which combine to create a perfect recipe for ‘January Blues’. To understand the cause of such blues, Debt Talk host Ripon Ray invited three guests from the mental and debt, financial inclusion, and open banking sectors. Charlene Marks , Head of Mental & Debt Advice at Mental Health UK, confessed that there is a genuine reason for feeling gloomy this month: our finances have taken a beating during the festive period and the New Year. She explained that there is a commercial reason for calling it and it is linked with travel agents utilising the period to encourage the sale of travel abroad. There are vulnerable communities seeking advice from her organisation, and many alike are impacted by severe mental health, depression, bipolar disorder and other mental health issues and debt are intertwined, as she explained eloquently. Gareth Evans, founder of Cash Perks, sees this period as ...