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Monthly Debt News (February 2023)


Monthly Debt News looks at debts and the causes of debts in Britain from a variety of sources selected for professionals to make the debt sector simple.


This month’s Debt News includes: *** Courts wave through warrant prepayment meter - Bailiffs forced to wear body cameras -Ofgem review customer standards of energy suppliers - DWP admits court defeat and universal credit discrimination - FCA consultation on debt packers - a spike in late payments and small businesses - Bite-Size Stats: Repossession, Consumer judgments, arrears & student debts


Articles


Exclusive: Courts waved through warrants for prepayment meter fitting


Courts waved through applications by energy firms to forcibly install prepayment meters in people's homes, according to internal advice leaked to the BBC. 


Previous guidelines required careful scrutiny of warrant applications, but new advice to courts deems those rules “disproportionate". 

More on the Exclusive issue: link


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Bailiffs forced to wear body cameras under new law 

Bailiffs will be forced to wear body cameras to protect vulnerable people struggling with debt, the Government has announced. The move is aimed at safeguarding households from “rogue” debt collectors who deploy threatening behaviour on their visits to squeeze cash out of families.

More on the issue: link


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Ofgem review reveals that customer service standards of energy suppliers must improve

On Thursday 2 Feb 2023, energy regulator Ofgem has published supplier ratings from its fourth ‘deep dive’ into energy supplier standards. The Market Compliance Reviews are proactive, market-wide assessments of energy suppliers’ performance on key areas. 

More on the issue: link

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DWP admits court defeat after universal credit discrimination led to suicide thoughts

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted repeatedly breaching the Equality Act, after a disabled man was left needing hospital treatment three times for suicidal thoughts caused by months of failures by universal credit advisers and jobcentres.

More on the issue: link

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FCA consults on debt packager referral fees ban

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has opened a consultation into a proposed ban on debt packager referral fees from debt solution providers, as part of its work to protect consumer outcomes.

The consultation will remain open until 2 March, during which time the FCA will update its analysis on the market. If the proposals are implemented, the measures would end the current debt packager business model.

More on the issue: link

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Small Business Survey reveals true effects of late payments on SME owners

A survey jointly conducted by two leading UK Debt Collection agencies has revealed the true extent of the effects of late payment on the nations local Small Business owners. There has been a spike in late payments to Small Businesses across the UK as the economy continues to remain unstable in the post pandemic era.


More on the issue: link


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Bitesize Stats

Repossession: UK Finance estimates that there were 700 homeowner properties taken into possession in the UK in Q3 2022, up from 420 in Q3 2021(Money Charity)

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 Consumer Judgements: The total value of consumer judgments has seen an increase of 44% this quarter, from £355 million in Q3 2022 to £512 million in Q4 2022. This increase is the highest as compared to the past four quarters. (Register Trust Ltd)

Consumer judgments have seen an increase of 59% in the average value, from £1,833 in Q3 2022 to £2,923 in Q4 2022 (Register Trust Ltd)

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Arrears: According to the Financial Conduct Authority, at the end of Q3 2022 there were 150,462 mortgage loan accounts with arrears of more than 1.5% of the current loan balance (Money Charity)

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Student Debt: In England, the average debt for the latest (2020/21) cohort to enter repayment was £45,060, an increase of 12.6% on the previous year (Money Charity)

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