Media Centre

Recent blogs

Coerced debt victim-survivors set to get credit status improvements as part of Financial Inclusion Strategy

Genevieve Richardson, Senior Public Policy Advocate, writes: We’re delighted to see that the Government’s newly-published Financial Inclusion Strategy contains decisive commitments to address the credit impairment that can blight victim-survivors of coerced debt, an issue on which we’ve been campaigning.

Go to the Medium blog

Recent media coverage

• Our Scotland public affairs officer, Malcolm McConnell, featured in the Clydebank Post speaking to the support we provide, but also how people are managing the cost of living crisis
• Vikki Brownridge was a guest on the sofa on BBC Yorkshire's political talk show, Politics North, as part of a discussion on the need for bailiff regulation, alongside Leeds councillor Ryan Stephenson and York Outer MP Luke Charters
• Our research showing that buy now pay later users are twice as likely to borrow to cover essential bills featured on BBC News
• Vikki wrote an opinion article for LabourList and called on the government to prioritise Help to Save ahead of the Budget
• As part of the Government's decision to introduce financial literacy to primary schools, Vikki spoke to the Sunday Times (paywall) about introducing young people to the concepts and terms around credit
• Our response to Ofgem's update on their debt relief scheme, revealing £500m would be available to almost 200,000 people struggling with energy debt, was featured in the Telegraph, The Sun, and more
• Vikki's latest article in the Yorkshire Post focused on how StepChange Connected brought together creditors, funders, partners, banks and others to address challenges around financial difficulty (also in print)
• One of our clients talked about our service in a piece in the Liverpool Echo on gambling and debt
• Our research alongside Ofgem and Bristol University, looking at energy referral pathways to debt advice and how clients feel about their energy provider, featured in Credit Connect
• Peter Tutton spoke to BBC Breakfast about council tax debt collection and enforcement. Watch back from 6:48
• Our client, Michael, was featured in a BBC Investigations article around aggressive debt collection activity
• We issued a range of consumer tips for households to get ahead of the energy price cap rise and manage the winter period. Our advice featured in iNews, the Independent and Mirror
• Vikki was quoted in The Mirror, PlymouthLive and LancsLive as part of our joint story with Ovo on our partnership
• Our story on council tax affordability pressures as part of our ongoing campaign to reform council tax was featured in The Mirror. Our polling found that one in four people, which is equivalent to 12 million across the UK, are finding council tax bills difficult to manage