Former debt advisers explained reasons for leaving debt advice to Doctor Debt

On 13 March 2023 Unite the trade union organised a campaign against the cuts on debt advice services in the United Kingdom and highlighted the impact on debt advisers under a number of advice agencies under the the Money Advice & Pension Service contract.

Advisers have also left debt advice work in droves due to stress and high targets. In this video, you can hear from two former debt advisers, who gave up working for various advice agencies because of pressure and targets.

Tanis Belsham-Wray, a former debt adviser, left debt advice work due to stress related to auditing, and pay conditions under the contract especially when she became a mother.

Nick Webster, another former debt adviser, suffered from mental health breakdown and was in therapy due to stress at work.

Mike Brown, a cancer patient in debt, reminds us of the importance of debt advice work.

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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

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

Shame no more to talk about domestic abuse and money trouble!

Silence can be a deadly killer for women of domestic abuse and instead of just hindering their recovery it could lead to their fatality. According to the Office of National Statistics (2015), two women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner in a relationship. The definition of domestic abuse has been expanded in recent times by legislation: an incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading and violent behaviour, including sexual violence. Julia Oviedo, a victim and survivor of domestic abuse, shared her personal experience on ‘In Conversation with Ripon Ray…the Community Money Matters Show’ on Betar Bangla Radio. It may seem just another story to many listeners but for an individual to talk about such a personal experience requires bravery, confidence and the will to encourage other victims to come forward and share their experiences. In her case, it was physical violence which she feared

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