Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Latest Ministry of Justice figures have shown increases in mortgage possession claims from 5,348 to 6,537 (22%), orders from 3,384 to 4,429 (31%), warrants from 2,959 to 3,787 (28%) and repossessions by county court bailiffs from 869 to 1,146 (32%) when compared to the same quarter in 2024. There were increases in mortgage possession claims…
Read more
A report by The Guardian has highlighted that a Bailiff company that overcharged people it was pursuing for unpaid debts has launched a refunds programme. Marston Holdings has apologised to consumers after overcharging ‘enforcement fees’ related to unpaid road traffic penalties it was chasing. The Enforcement Conduct Board states that it has been actively addressing this…
Read more
The Government has issued a reminder to eligible households encouraged to check they are named on their electricity bill to automatically benefit from the Warm Home Discount this winter. Millions could save £150 on their electricity bills this winter. Every household where the billpayer receives an eligible means-tested benefit will now be in line for…
Read more
Water regulator, Ofwat has announced that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Black is stepping down at the end of the month. The news follows the Defra announcement that Ofwat is to be transferred into a new, integrated water regulator. Black will be standing down at the end of August with an interim appointment will be…
Read more
The Government has announced that Ofwat will be abolished and will b e replaced by one single water regulator responsible for the entire water system. In a speech at Kingfisher Wharf, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Steve Reed pledged to strengthen regulation, clean up the country’s s rivers and protect the public from…
Read more
The system of regulating water companies needs “a complete overhaul” as the sector hikes customer bills to expand failing infrastructure and tackle pollution, according to a new report by the Government’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The report says that the water system has been left to sink for too long, with hikes in customer bills…
Read more
Latest Government statistics have shown that in April 2025, 469,780 Universal Credit households were affected by the two-child limit policy: that is, they had a third or subsequent child born on or after 6TH April 2017. This was an increase of 13,520 (3%) from the total number of households affected on either Universal Credit or…
Read more
Debt charities are calling for a fundamental overhaul of the personal insolvency system in England and Wales, warning that current debt remedies are no longer working for people in crisis or for creditors. In a new joint paper Citizens Advice and the Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline, have set out a…
Read more
Research by TSB has found that among the 31 per cent of people who have acted on financial advice on social media platforms, over half (55%) lost money as a result. The data found that over two-fifths (42%) of 16-24-year-olds reported having used social media to access financial advice in the past 12 months, followed by…
Read more
Ofgem has ordered Octopus Energy to pay £1.5 million in refunds and compensation, after an investigation found thousands of errors on prepayment meter bills. An investigation by the energy regulator, has found that ver 34,000 prepayment meter customer accounts with Octopus between 2016 and October 2023 did not receive final bills within six weeks, as…
Read more
The Government has published the first major update on its Personal Insolvency Framework Review since August 2023, when it released a summary of responses to the 2022 Call for Evidence. Responding to the update, Nicky Fisher, R3 Personal Insolvency Committee Chair, said “R3 welcomes the Insolvency Service’s continued commitment to reforming the UK’s personal insolvency…
Read more
Cornwall Insight has forecasted that the energy price cap will fall to £1,698 a year for a typical dual fuel consumer in October. Thi is £22 lower than the July 2025 cap of £1,720 and a slight decrease on the prediction released in May. Although a drop of just 1%, the forecast offers some relief…
Read more
Rising energy prices over the last two decades have squeezed incomes for low-and-middle income families and contributed to a ‘comfort crunch’ as more of their budgets are spent on household essentials, according to new Resolution Foundation research. The report notes that non-housing essentials – food and drink, utility bills, clothing and footwear, childcare, and road,…
Read more