Money Advice & Pension Service, one of the leading funders of debt advice and pension guidance in the UK, listened to debt experts from a variety of minority-led service providers and debt experts to understand the interlink between poverty and mental health within minority communities. Ripon Ray was able to share his knowledge as a debt expert from the perspective of the Bangladeshi community in Britain based on his expert knowledge of debt advice and campaign work he carried out during the pandemic under the umbrella of BritBanglaCovid. There is a broad range of issues that impacted minority communities and some of the recommendations outlined by MaPS is welcome. The challenge would be to implement the recommendations of the report for the benefit of minority communities since the pandemic exposed structural inequality in health and other spheres of minority life.
Ripon Ray has worked in the debt advice sector for over 14 years. His work includes front-line advice & training, developing advice services, quality framework and working with regulators. He created template letters to develop confidence among those struggling with debts. He founded a series of podcasts to show the link between debt and other sectors by getting industry experts together.