Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered her Spending Review, setting out budgets for government departments. Responding to the Spending Review, Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said “The elephant in the room today has been the looming cuts to support for disabled people, which threaten to increase poverty and will inevitably strain the very health…
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The Government has announced in a Written Ministerial Statement that the Ministry of Justice will be consulting on how to implement regulation of the enforcement sector. The Government says the review will aim to increase protections for those facing debt enforcement action and raise fees recoverable by bailiff firms. Setting out plans to overhaul to…
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The Government has announced that more than three-quarters of pensioners will receive the winter fuel payment this year. The change wil mean that around nine million pensioners with an income of, or below, £35,000 a year receiving the benefit. The threshold is well above the income level of pensioners in poverty and is broadly in…
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New research by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust has found that over a third of households (34%) are cutting their use of water instead, with one-in-five (19%) reducing the number of showers or baths they take. The data showed that 24% report their energy bills have increased ‘a lot’ and 29% say their water bills have risen…
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The Civil Enforcement Association (CIVEA) has identified a 300% increase in reports of people impersonating enforcement agents and using aggressive tactics to scare victims into paying fictitious debts. CIVEA was notified of 26 ‘fake bailiff’ reports in the first quarter of the year (January – March 2025), almost equal to the amount received during the…
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The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is set to cut the interest firms must pay on compensation payouts. Currently, firms must pay 8% interest on compensation awards. The study will look at cutting the interest rate applied to compensation handed down against firms that have lost cases to customers. This is the first step in FOS’s…
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The Insolvency Service has published a revised Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) protocol to improve the service currently offered to people in debt and safeguard them from poor practice. IVAs are a legally binding agreement between a person who is insolvent and their creditors. The new protocol includes an easy-to-read ‘key facts’ document, which will be given to…
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Eight energy suppliers have committed to compensation and debt write off for at least 40,000 consumers who had an involuntary prepayment meter installed for issues including poor data quality and record keeping, and unfair treatment of customers following an Ofgem investigation. The investigation found that suppliers that fell short of required standards when trying to…
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More than £1 billion in incorrect Universal Credit (UC) payments have been blocked by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in a drive to stop people falling into financial difficulties. The milestone was reached after a programme to review payments was ramped up last summer, with more than one million cases now looked at.…
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Energy regulator Ofgem has announced a 7% reduction of the energy price cap for the period covering July to September 2025. A recent fall in wholesale prices is the main driver of the overall reduction, accounting for around 90% of the fall. The remainder is primarily due to changes to the operating cost allowances energy…
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The Credit Services Association (CSA), the trade body for the debt collection and purchase industry, has released a comprehensive report highlighting the urgent need for reform of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). In a new report, it recommends the option of folding FOS into the Financial Conduct Authority, saving significant costs and efficiencies and…
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Ten energy suppliers will pay £7 million in compensation and refunds after overcharging more than 34,000 customers, following a review by the energy regulator Ofgem Ofgem said the suppliers had agreed to pay more than 34,000 customers compensation and refunds because of erroneously billing them more for standing charges than is allowed under the regulator’s price cap.…
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Good Energy has paid over £150,000 in compensation and redress after failing to provide final bills and refund credit balances to prepayment meter customers. An investigation by the energy regulator, Ofgem, found that 2,284 prepayment meter customer accounts were affected between 2014 and October 2023 due to an error within its billing system. As a…
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