Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
New research from Citizens Advice found that 3.2 million people across Great Britain ran out of credit on their prepayment meter last year because they couldn’t afford to top up. That’s one person every 10 seconds – cut off from their energy supply as the cost-of-living crisis left people struggling to keep the lights on.…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is proposing to update guidance, introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, to support insurance customers in financial difficulty. As part of the FCA’s ongoing work to help protect customers during the current cost of living squeeze, this will provide clarity to firms about how they should support all struggling customers, not…
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One in five people (over 12 million) now borrowing to pay for food and other essential bills, with half doing so for the first time according to research by Money and Pensions Service, The survey of 2,180 UK adults, carried out by the Money and Pensions Service, shows that one in five (23%) have relied…
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Both the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) and ICAEW have issued updates around the approved changes to SIP 3 that take effect from 1st March 2023. The revised SIP 3.1 will apply to #ivas where the Nominee is appointed on or after 1st March 2023. SIP 3 was previously reviewed in 2021, but progressed stopped when the FCA introduced CP21/30 (Debt…
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The Government has been criticised for failing to collect £42bn in unpaid tax from businesses and individuals. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says HMRC is still not deploying the resources required to maximise the tax revenues it collects or provide an acceptable level of customer service. At a time of huge strain for the public…
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Typical household disposable incomes for working-age families are on track to fall by 3 per cent this financial year, and by 4 per cent next year, with the two-year cost-of-living squeeze set to leave families £2,100 worse off and only the very richest households seeing their incomes rise, according to new research by the Resolution…
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BDO is warning taxpayers who are in arrears that HMRC is expected to get much tougher when it comes to recovering tax debts in 2023. For the last two years, HMRC has waived late filing and late payment penalties for a month after the 31st January Self Assessment deadline to ease Covid pressures, but the…
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Latest forecasts for the Default Tariff Cap (price cap) released by Cornwall Insight, have shown energy bills for a typical household are predicted to be below the government’s Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) from July (Q3 2023) this year. Despite the fall in these forecasts, bills are set to remain significantly above pre-pandemic levels – settling…
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New research from Go.Compare has discovered the UK’s top five financial concerns as we start the new year, with spending less on outgoings and saving into a deposit account topping the table. More than 2,000 UK adults were surveyed by the comparison site and found that 58% of those questioned admitted they were anticipating a…
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced more detail on the payment schedule for the next round of cost of living support unveiled in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, building on payments made to over eight million people in 2022. The new £900 cash boost for over eight million eligible means-tested benefits claimants, including…
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More than eight million adults are financially fragile and at risk of being over-stretched due to record levels of unsecured debt and rising interest rates amid the cost-of-living crisis, according to a report by PwC and TotallyMoney. The report found that 8.9 million adults are showing signs that their finances are teetering on the brink,…
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New analysis from Citizens Advice has found that more than one in three UK adults (37%) say they’d find it difficult or impossible to cover even a £20 increase to their monthly outgoings. This equates to 17.7 million people in England and Wales. This figure is particularly high for some groups, including 58% for people in…
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While 2023 may offer economic policy makers some relief, with signs inflation will ease and interest rates peak lower than feared, family finances face a ‘groundhog year’ repeat of 2022’s squeeze as the cost-of-living crisis deepens next year, according to the Resolution Foundation’s New Year Outlook. The Foundation says that 2022 has been horrendous, with…
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