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External affairs team

Find out who's talking about us and what they're saying

StepChange in the news

In this section you'll find highlights from recent media coverage of our campaign work as well as appearances on radio and television by our policy advocates and clients.

Our latest media coverage

Please note, we're not responsible for the content of external websites.

Friday 10 March 2023

In the media, at the beginning of the week, Director of External Affairs Richard Lane was interviewed for a piece in Sky News about older age groups using Buy Now, Pay Later products. Richard discusses the risks of using BNPL and the need for it to be regulated as soon as possible. Richard also took part in a second interview for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme’s fortnightly financial newsletter about the work of StepChange.

On social channels, in March so far, over 500 users have gone to our site from social media. Of those users, 7.9% on average are going through to starting debt advice. This is an increase from our 5% average from last year. Our ‘What debts should I pay first’ video went live across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok – gaining over 2k views across platforms. We caught up with Jamie Buckley after the Collections Think Tank cost of living session, read the Q&A article.

News


Friday 3 March 2023

In the media, this week we published our latest client data for January while commenting on the Bank of England’s money and credit figures. This was covered in a syndicated piece in This is Money, Reuters and Yahoo, and also in The Intermediary, Global Rubber Markets, CCR Magazine, Credit Connect and Politics.co.uk. Elsewhere, we responded to the Insolvency Service’s outcomes and providers data for 2022. Director of External Affairs Richard Lane’s comments were covered by the Intermediary, Politics.co.uk, Credit Connect and CCR Magazine.

On social channels, we responded to the news that Ofgem had lowered the energy price cap, repeating our calls to the government to keep the Energy Price Guarantee at £2,500 from April. We posted a new reel to Instagram about checking meter readings which has had almost 1,000 views.   

News


Friday 24 February

In the media, Earlier this week, ITV News ran a report looking at people turning to credit to pay for essentials. Director of External Affairs Richard Lane was interviewed for six regional programmes giving advice to consumers worried about debt and rising bills. StepChange client Alannah-Jayne Simpson was interviewed by BBC News for the ‘My Money’ diary series. She speaks about how the cost of living crisis is impacting her and her family, having long term health conditions, and getting help with her debt from the charity. Last weekend, The Sun published a piece looking at the mis-selling of IVAs - Richard Lane and Head of Policy Peter Tutton were quoted.

On social channels, this month so far, over 1,500 social media users have gone to our site. An average of over 7% are going through to starting debt advice. We’ve been mentioned heavily on the Reddit platform, with anonymous users sharing their experiences. We published an instagram reel with impartial tips around insulating the home, which has over 880 views.

News


Friday 10 February 2023

In the media, a journalist from the i paper recently visited our Leeds office and interviewed debt advisors Pedro, Ray and Clare about their experiences of helping clients and the impact of the cost of living crisis. Our new partnership with Zilch was covered in the Evening Standard and several trade outlets including Credit Connect, Fintech Finance, The AI Journal, Silicon UK, The Paypers and AltFi.

We supported Martin Lewis’ letter to the Chancellor calling for the rise in the energy price guarantee in April to be scrapped, StepChange’s support was mentioned in the Telegraph, LadBible and in a widely syndicated piece in the Independent and over 180 regional and national outlets.

On social channels

Over 200 users have gone from social media to the site this month. 8% of users are going through to starting debt advice. Our 30 second video about what a bailiff can and can’t list, has reached over 2,000 views. We back Martin Lewis calling on Jeremy Hunt to keep the price cap at £2,500. This tweet received a 5.5% engagement rate. 70 views and counting of our Linked In article highlighting partner comments in celebration of our 30th anniversary of free debt advice.

News

StepChange was mentioned as a source of advice in the following online articles:


Friday 3 February 2023

In the media, earlier this week we published our latest client data from December, while commenting on the Bank of England’s money and credit data. Director of External Affairs Richard Lane’s comment was included in a syndicated article in the Independent, Evening Standard, Yahoo and AOL, and separately in CCR Magazine and Credit Connect. Yesterday we responded to the news that the Bank of England was raising the base rate by 0.5%. Our response was covered in a widely syndicated article in MailOnline, Yahoo News, Independent, over 200 regional outlets, and also in Credit Connect.

Following The Times’ undercover investigation into British Gas forcefully installing prepayment meters in vulnerable customers homes, Head of Policy Peter Tutton was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme (from 40:00) and on the BBC News Channel about issues in the bailiff industry.  

On social channels

Over 339 users have gone from social media to our site this week. We responded to the Bank of England’s interest rate rise. We also responded to The Times’ prepayment meter investigation in a thread tweet which gained traction. In addition to our TikTok video about bailiffs, we published the full length video on our YouTube channel.

News

We were mentioned as a source of advice in the following online articles:


Friday 27 January 2023

In the media, this week we marked 30 years of providing free and impartial debt advice. Our press release was covered by CCR Magazine and Politics.co.uk, and Richard Lane and Sue Anderson were interviewed on BBC Radio Leeds (1:15:00) and BBC Radio Norfolk (from 2:36:00) respectively.

Yesterday we published our latest Scottish quarterly client data for Q4 of 2022. The data and comment from Head of Scotland Sharon Bell were covered by The Herald (also in print), Third Force News, The Intermediary and CCR Magazine.

On social channels

In January so far, over 1,771 users have gone through social media to our site. Of those users, just over 200 of gone through to starting debt advice. We marked out 30th birthday and did a live tweet thread of the event, where you’ll be able to spot some colleague friendly faces! Our CEO, Phil Andrew, wrote a LinkedIn article reflecting on the work we have done which has been read over 100 times by LinkedIn users. This week in social media, Kimberley met up with the social media manager at Christians Against Poverty to look at how we can support each other online through content - a wonderful and promising meeting!

News


Friday 20 January 2023

In the media, it’s been a busy week for media - on Monday we collaborated with the BBC on a story about debt following Christmas, which included a headline piece, and several interviews on BBC Breakfast, BBC 5 Live, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Wales, BBC Radio Merseyside and Sky News, as well as the story being mentioned on the BBC lunchtime news and every national and regional BBC radio station. On the same day, BBC Morning Live ran a film featuring StepChange, where they visited our Leeds office and interviewed CEO Phil Andrew and debt advisor Gareth Huggett about what clients are facing during the cost of living crisis. They also interviewed StepChange client Sarah in the film, who spoke about her experience of getting help from the charity, saying “I couldn’t have done it without StepChange”.

The following day The Martin Lewis Money Show featured a special episode on debt which we supported by keeping our phoneline open until 10pm. As part of the programme we heard about Rob’s story, who praised StepChange for helping him become debt-free after getting into debt from a gambling addiction. In the minutes after Rob’s story aired, over 2,200 people visited StepChange’s website.

On social channels, over 1,200 users have gone to the site from social media this month so far. Of which a huge 10% are going through to debt advice (we usually see an average of 5% as a target). There have been 65.7k impressions on Twitter from January, with our involvement with Martin Lewis gaining high engagement - see our tweets. Our TikTok video of our client Nikki has nearly reached 1k views, with 100 likes.

News


Friday 13 January 2023

In the media, earlier this week, Head of StepChange Scotland Sharon Bell was interviewed by The National Scotland about the soar in demand for advice that StepChange has seen since the new year.

Head of Media Sue Anderson spoke to BBC Spotlight’s evening news programme about the same topic, and where to get help if you’re struggling with debt in the new year.

Sue Anderson was quoted in Good Housekeeping discussing misleading lead generator adverts on social media which claim to offer debt help.

Social channels

So far in January, over 712 users have gone to our site through social media. Of those users, 87 have gone through to starting debt advice. We’ve been seeing lovely tweets from clients who have become debt free! Here’s Anthony’s tweet, and a tweet from a client called Hannah.

News

StepChange was mentioned as a source of advice on BBC Radio 2, LBC, BBC Radio Berkshire and in the following online articles:


Friday 6 January 2023

In the media, Head of StepChange Scotland Sharon Bell joined a panel on STV Scotland Tonight yesterday to discuss the cost of living crisis and what we’re seeing at StepChange. This week we published our latest client data for November. Director of External Affairs Richard Lane’s comment was covered by The Guardian, BBC News, The Telegraph, Yahoo News, CCR Magazine and in a widely syndicated article in the Independent, Evening Standard, and over 165 other regional outlets.

Social channels

335 people have gone to our site from socials over a 5 day period. This is an increase of over 20% on the previous year. Of those users, 29 started debt advice, an increase of 141% on the previous year (29 vs 12). Our most popular content was The Guardian piece, featuring comments from our lovely debt advisors Julie and Sally.

News

StepChange was mentioned as a source of advice in the following online articles:


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