Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Office For National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed its estimates of household incomes and inequality in the UK for the financial year ending 2021. For the financial year 2021, median income of the poorest fifth of people fell by an average of 2%, while the richest fifth of people fell by 1%. Whilst disposable income inequality…
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New polling commissioned by the anti-poverty group Jubilee Debt Campaign has revealed that three million people fear they will be pushed into debt over the next six months. This week’s rises in National Insurance contributions as well as the increase in the energy price cap and council tax are set to push even more people…
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A new survey by the Credit Services Association (CSA), the UK trade body for debt collection and debt purchase, found that firms expect to either explore or adopt new communications technologies in the coming years, which will afford customers a broader range of options to engage and discuss their debt. Despite this move toward digital…
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New analysis from Age UK has indicated that one-in-five (21 per cent) older households are living in poverty or just above the poverty line and/ or are in receipt of income-related benefits. The Charity is warning that these older households, which include some of the poorest and most vulnerable older people in England, will miss…
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The Chancellor delivered a Spring Statement which will reduce fuel duty on petrol and diesel by 5p per litre for the next year and announces a £5 billion income tax cut from 2024. The National Insurance starting thresholds will rise to £12,570 from July. The Government says that the tax cut, worth over £6 billion,…
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The Chancellor’s failure to support families through the cost of living crisis will mean that absolute poverty is expected to rise by 1.3 million people next year according to the Resolution Foundation’s analysis of Spring Statement 2022. Inflation Nation shows that faced with an unprecedented squeeze on family’s household finances and a significant boost to…
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JPMorgan Chase announced a £1.2 million philanthropic commitment to help low-income and underserved communities across the UK access affordable loans and build financial resilience. This new commitment will help Fair4All Finance expand its No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) pilot to a sixth region in the UK. The scheme, the first of its scale in the…
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People experiencing problem debt tend to have more complex situations than in the past, so the scope and delivery of debt advice also needs to evolve according to StepChange Debt Charity. As part of debt charity’s launch of its new strategy, StepChange has revealed that 158,000 clients were given full debt advice in 2021, with the…
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New analysis by Jubilee Debt Campaign has found that the number of households struggling with a heavy debt burden has increased by a third in 2021. According to the analysis of the Bank of England’s household survey, the percentage of households reporting that loan and interest payments were a heavy financial burden increased by 35%…
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More than three-quarters of Scottish adults impacted by debt during the pandemic say their mental health has been negatively impacted by it according to new polling for Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS). Polling for the charity by YouGov found that 77 per cent of Scottish adults in debt or at risk of debt since the Covid-19…
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A new report from Demos, produced in partnership with Lowell has identified a number of areas subject to the ‘double whammy’ of high financial vulnerability and limited access to affordable credit. As UK households are hit by rising prices, the latest update to the UK Financial Vulnerability Index (FVI), a joint project of Lowell and…
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New analysis from the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) highlights the stark impact of a scheduled real-terms cut to benefits next month, as rising energy costs threaten to devastate the living standards of families on the lowest incomes. The analysis shows the impact of rising energy costs on household budgets. It finds that once housing…
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One in seven (an estimated 7.9 million) UK adults is behind on at least one household bill and one in eight (an estimated 6.2 million) have gone without heating, water or electricity in the last three months as a result of rising costs, according to new research from the Money Advice Trust. The charity, which…
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