Debt Awareness week – We need more focus on the causes of debt. (Poverty2Solutions)
This week marks Debt Awareness week and Poverty2Solutions applaud the fantastic work carried out by many charities throughout the UK who are supporting people who face insurmountable debt. For too many households, debt is an everyday fact of life.
This week, we call on all of us to look not just at the impact of debt on individual lives; but also at the drivers of debt; and the Government’s own role here as a debt collector.
Appreciating that this past year has been challenging and Covid-19 has amplified the issues surrounding debt, Poverty2Solutions’ transformative way of working is to collaborate and merge areas of expertise in order to address the causes and practices that continue to keep people locked in poverty.
More people are now in debt and government debt has reached epidemic proportions. £13.5bn is today owed in personal debt, which includes council tax, rent arrears and benefit overpayments now owed to the government (Collecting Dust , Centre for Social Justice)
Despite the increasing numbers of people presenting with problematic government debts, the public sector has failed to keep pace with the advances made by the private sector in collecting debt in ways that are more manageable for people experiencing problems with debt.
Problem debt can ruin lives and outmoded repayment practices have the potential to exacerbate already difficult financial circumstances.
“I was left with £111 a fortnight to live on.. how is anyone supposed to manage on that. I didn’t know why so much was coming out of my Universal Credit and when it would end…Why didn’t anyone talk to me about this and ask if it was ok?”
Poverty2Solutions are an award winning coalition of 3 groups (ATD Fourth World, Dole Animators and Thrive Teesside), each of which is led by lived experience of poverty and socio-economic disadvantage . Named as one of the top 100 Changemakers of 2020 by the Big Issue, this coalition advocate for participatory approaches to policy making and are asking the UK government to:
• Work in partnership with people with lived experiences of the social security system to ensure debt deductions from Universal Credit and legacy benefits are not drivers of hardship and destitution.
• To ensure repayment of UC advances are also viewed as a debt that many people are forced to borrow to survive the minimum five-week wait for their first UC payment
To do this effectively, Poverty2Solutions value merging areas of expertise and insight to address the complexity of the problems, working together and building inclusive relationships.
To address the issue surrounding debt deductions from benefits, collaboration and co-designing of policy will be essential when moving beyond the emergency measures put in place to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Longer term planning, with the voice of lived experience at its heart, is an opportunity to ensure safeguards and a fairer and more resilient system is put in place. Having people who are affected by policies as part of the decision making processes is key to ensure they are workable and effective and also honours the fundamental principles associated with democracy.
It is about informing debate that has the potential to add value to the work carried out by decision maker/policy makers by bringing insight and expertise from organisations and individuals with lived experiences of the issues at hand.
Tracey Herrington, Thrive. Member of Poverty2Solutions www.poverty2solutions.org
