Credit, collections & insolvency news
Energy regulator Ofgem has announced that the energy price cap will increase by 5% on the previous quarter from 1st January to 31st March 2024. The cost for an average household paying by direct debit for dual fuel equates to £1,928, a rise of £94 over the course of a year – around £7.83 a…
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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced his Autumn Statement. The Chancellor began his speech by saying he had more than 100 measures to incentivise and support businesses in what he described as the ‘biggest business tax cut in modern British history. StepChange has welcomed the unfreezing of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and uprating of benefits in…
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Latest Cornwall Insight’s analysis has suggested that the energy price cap is expected increase by five percent in the first quarter of next year, before declining from the end of March. Based on it;s analysis, for a typical dual fuel household, it has predicted that the Q1 2024 price cap will be £1,931, this is…
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Ofgem has announced a call for input on the ‘standing charge’ – how it is applied to energy bills and what alternatives could be considered. The standing charge is a daily charge that you pay your energy supplier each day to cover fixed costs of providing gas and electricity, regardless of how much energy you…
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New Ministry of Justice data, has found between July and September 8,399 landlords in England started Section 21 no-fault eviction court proceedings against their tenants, the highest number for seven years. With the number of court proceedings resulting from no-fault evictions climbing by 38% in a year, Shelter is urging the government not to further…
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Several proposed reforms were announced by King Charles as he laid out the government’s priorities for the year ahead at the State Opening of Parliament. Joanna Elson CBE, Chief Executive of Independent Age said “With more than two million older people living in poverty and at least another million living on the edge, systemic change…
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The High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) is backing the Enforcement Conduct Board’s (ECB) new accreditation scheme for the enforcement profession. A register of accredited enforcement firms has now been published on the ECB’s website for the first time and marks an important step for the ECB, which was set up in 2022 to provide…
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The new ‘Help with Fees’ scheme protects universal access to justice by providing those on low income and little to no savings with financial help towards the cost of these fees. In the last year alone, the scheme has provided over £80 million to thousands of people in a wide range of cases such as…
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Ofgem has announced that it has appointed five New Non-Executive Directors. Responsible for bringing independent oversight and support, the new Non-Executive Directors will help guide Ofgem’s work on current and future challenges – from restoring resilience in the energy market to maintaining progress towards the UK’s net zero goals. The 5 appointees, who take up their…
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Fourteen energy retail companies have announced their collective commitment to go above and beyond current licensing conditions to help households struggling with energy bill debt this winter. The Winter 2023 Voluntary Debt Commitment, developed with Energy UK, Ofgem and Citizens Advice, means that energy suppliers are going further than existing regulatory obligations to provide better support…
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Energy regulator, Ofgem has announced the launch of a consultation to assesss options to protect the energy market and consumers from the risk of spiralling debt. Figures obtained by the regulator this summer show that energy debt reached £2.6 billion, its highest ever level, due to a combination of the rise in wholesale energy prices,…
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Consultancy firm Cornwall Insight predicts that annual energy bills for a typical household are expected to rise by £73 to £1,996 in January. Under Ofgem’s energy price cap, the typical annual bill will be £1,923 between October and December, with this down from the £2,074 seen in the July through September quarter. Dr Craig Lowrey,…
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Introducing social tariffs has the potential to reduce the energy bills of the country’s most vulnerable by over £330 a year, at a relatively low cost to the government according to analysis from Cornwall Insight. The research says that the introduction of the October Default Tariff Cap (price cap), offering discounted deals to low-income households,…
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