Influencing policy

We’ve been campaigning for bailiff reform, alongside our partners in the Taking Control group of charities and organisations, since 2017. We want to see independent regulation of the bailiff (enforcement) industry to ensure that people experiencing bailiff action are treated fairly and that no one in financial difficulty is pushed further into hardship. We played an integral role in the creation of the Enforcement Conduct Board, and have been campaigning for the Government to give them the statutory powers they need to deliver effective, independent regulation of the bailiff industry. We’re pleased the Government are now consulting on this.

We’ve been pushing for significant reform of the personal insolvency system, to ensure that people in financial difficulty always have a safe route out of problem debt. Through our work, we’ve helped convinced the Insolvency Service that significant reform is needed, and have set out what a simpler and more coherent insolvency framework could look like – underpinned by principles that better reflect the realities of problem debt today. Our Reimagining Insolvency report, in partnership with Citizens Advice, sets out how this could be achieved.

High energy prices have had a significant impact on low-income households and energy debt is at a record high. We’ve been campaigning for a Help to Repay scheme, to offer households support to reduce their energy debt through debt relief and repayment matching, as well as supporting calls for an energy social tariff. 

We use our evidence and expertise from running Business Debtline, the UK’s only dedicated free debt advice service for small business owners, to secure change for this crucial sector of the economy. Our Building up Business programme, supported by Aviva, aims to build the financial confidence and resilience of small business owners. Through the programme, we’ve delivered new research, insight and recommendations as well as launching a free virtual learning programme to help close the small business finance skills and support gap.

Despite some improvements in recent years, central and local government debt collection practices still lag behind best practice seen in financial services and other creditor sectors. We’re working to improve fairness in government debt management by presenting evidence from our services, developing recommendations for change and working directly with central and local government. This includes pushing for improvements to council tax collection and our Stop the Knock work mapping bailiff use and other collection practices across England and Wales.

As one of the UK’s largest debt advice charities we are a respected voice in issues of policy and regulation in financial services, energy, water and other creditor sectors. We produce dozens of responses to consultations and calls for evidence every year, and engage heavily with the FCA, Ofgem, Ofwat as well as credit industry trade bodies and individual firms – all with an aim of improving the UK’s money and debt environment for people in financial difficulty.