Skip to main content

Monthly Debt News (March 2023)



(March 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 - extended energy bill support - FCA expects the debt sector to implement consumer duty - students in debt - Surrey Council insolvent - Bitesize stats.


Energy bill support to be extended as price rise looms. 


Support for energy bills from the government is expected to continue for three months from April, protecting consumers from an average increase of £500. Sky News understands the chancellor will cancel a reduction in support that would have seen typical annual bills rise from £2,500 to £3,000. 

More here: Link (Sky)

----------------

FCA wrote to COA/Director on  21 February of Debt Advice sector to implement Consumer Duty 

Consumer Duty is a significant shift in our expectations of firms. It introduces a more outcomes-focused approach to consumer protection and sets higher expectations for the standard of care that firms give customers. 

More here: Link (FCA)

----------------

Student loans: A third of university  students plunge into debt in cost of living crisis, ONS survey shows


Figures published on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that 30 percent of students in England have taken on new debt in the past three months, with the majority saying it was because their student loan was “not enough to support their living costs”. 

More here: Link (iNews)

----------------

Surry council on brink of insolvency with debts of nearly £2bn. 


A local council in Surrey has signalled it is close to effective bankruptcy after amassing debts worth almost £2bn to fund a property investment spree, raising fresh questions over the fragile health of local authorities after years of austerity. 


More on here: Link (Guardian)

----------------

Bitesize Stats:


The proportion of UK families going without essentials due to the rising cost of living. Around 6 in 10 low-income households are not able to afford an unexpected expense, over half are in arrears and around a quarter use credit to pay essential bills. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)

----------------

Citizens Advice Bureaux across England and Wales answered 469,854 enquiries in January 2023, 18.4% up from January 2022. Debt was the second largest advice category in January 2023 with 79,448 issues, behind Benefits and Tax Credits (104,944). (Money Charity) 

----------------

There were 26,538 individual insolvencies in England and Wales in November to January 2023, an increase of 0.8% from 26,328 for the same period in 2022. (Money Charity)

----------------

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Budgeting on Your Money Matters...with Ripon Ray

24% greater than on the eve of the financial crisis, Britons owe a total of £72.5bn on credit cards with £400m added to balances in November 2018 alone, according to the Bank of England. In such a mountainous backdrop, it's essential that regulators and the central government put financial education on top of the agenda for the well-being of communities who are struggling with money. On Your Money Matters show, I have tackled this exact issue by interviewing Michelle Turpin Cope, Money Trainer. She personally struggled to manage her money once she resigned from her job as a nurse due to stress and depression. She had devoted her life caring for NHS patients. Once her savings ran out, she had to turn to state benefits; otherwise, would have been destitute. The luxury of spending money on a cup of coffee every day, without realising the impact this purchase would have on her finances, was really an issue for her. Once she went on a money mentor training, she was forced to
2 comments
Read more

A debt free path for a mental health sufferer

It’s a well-known fact that individuals who suffer from a hampered mental capacity - be it mental health or learning difficulties - are most likely to be vulnerable in our communities. They are also more likely to be victims of miss-sold products and services by companies, even though organisations that are providing financial products and services have a duty under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to take extra care towards these individuals. This is what the FCA has to say about vulnerable customers: ‘  The vulnerability of the customer, in particular where the firm understands the customer has some form of mental capacity limitation or reasonably suspects this to be so because the customer displays indications of some form of mental capacity limitation  (see  ■  CONC 2.10) But due to a culture of intensive selling to consumers, generated by employers placing and enforcing - often difficult and unrealistic - performance goals which are attached to tempting
70 comments
Read more

Betar Bangla radio’s Ripon Ray: How fashionista turned political activist and debt advisor

PUBLISHED:  09:02 13 March 2019 |  UPDATED:  09:03 13 March 2019 Emma Bartholomew Ripon Ray: Picture: Rukya Khan ​Debt advisor and radio talk show host Ripon Ray tells Emma Bartholomew how he’s seeing more and more people who are unable to just pay the basic bills Ripon Ray: Picture: Nick De Marco Self-confessed “arty-farty creative” Ripon Ray originally set out to be a fashionista in life, when he “found his calling” and changed track to become an activist. He’d been studying at the London School of Fashion, but going on an anti-fascist protest “triggered a couple of things”. “I dumped my studies and went to Kingsley College where I was doing full-on activism, and organising protest marches,” he told the  Gazette . “I loved it but I got kicked out of there because I was too much of an activist and I wasn’t focusing on my studies.” He knuckled under, bagged a history degree and started out in the charity sector as a housing advisor. Being mugged i
54 comments
Read more