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The social cost of problem debt in the UK


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Cutting the cost of problem debt

Problem debt costs the UK £8.3bn through the damage it causes to family life, mental and physical health, productivity and employment prospects and costs to  the welfare state, the NHS, local government and other agencies.

To better understand the benefits of advice to our clients, their creditors and society as a whole, we  commissioned independent experts, Baker Tilly, to evaluate what debt advice means for individuals, their families, lenders and the state.

What are the social costs of debt?

We have used Baker Tilly's analysis to quantify the social cost of problem debt:

Social cost of debt

What can be done?

Baker Tilly’s research shows that debt advice can give substantial societal benefits, countering the social costs of problem debt. We calculate that if all 2.9 million people in problem debt had effective advice, a total of £3.1 billion could be saved.

Debt advice has an important role to play, but wider action is needed by policy-makers to shore up family finances and ensure people can get the help and protection they need to prevent debt problems from worsening.

Download details of our research

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Email us for more information on our debt research and statistics across the UK.

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