Lovemoney.com
Sign in Register
Cookie policy
Follow this topicFollow this topic Knowledge » Improve your finances

Good news for debtors

Ed Bowsher
by Lovemoney Staff Ed Bowsher on 14 February 2011  |  Comments 6 comments

Vince Cable has announced some welcome good news for the debt advice sector.

Good news for debtors

Earlier this month I said that I strongly disagreed with the Government’s plan to withdraw funding for debt advice given by Citizens Advice and some other providers. It makes no sense to cut back on support when so many people are trying to cope with cripplingly high levels of debt.

However, I can now report some good news. The original cut was made by the Treasury, but Vince Cable’s Business Department has now stepped into the breach and is going to provide funding worth £27m to support face-to-face debt advice. This is very welcome news.

Cable’s statement wasn’t all good news though. He made the point that the government isn’t the only source of funding for Citizens Advice. The organisation receives funding from lots of other bodies including local authorities. Given that council budgets are currently being slashed, I fear that Citizens Advice will have to make some cutbacks in spite of Cable’s positive funding decision.

Still, things aren’t as bad as they might have been and many Liberal Democrats will be happy. This is a decision they can point to as an example of their party softening the rough edges of Tory-led coalition.

Enjoyed this? Show it some love

Twitter
General

Comments (6)

  • oldhenry
    Love rating 175
    oldhenry said

    I too am sick of the government using savers to pay for their incompetance. King should be sacked for not keeping down inflation. He is in the pay of Cameron ( his pension had a big to up) so he is dancing to the government's tune - not the savers' tune.

    Report on 17 February 2011  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • WXJLtonight
    Love rating 0
    WXJLtonight said

    6 full time debt advice jobs have been saved in our advice centre by the announcement of this £27million funding extension. Our staff would have been halved by the cuts at a time when demand for our service is growing. I have been working under the last governments Financial Inclusion Fund debt advice project for 4 years and I know good quality and timely advice can save people a massive amount stress and worry, help them keep their homes and stop them being ripped off by poor, under regulated fee paying companies. We are not a Citizens Advice Bureau but a well-established independent, who work accross our county and also provide free benefits advice under a Legal Aid contract. We were also facing local authority cuts but when the council were presented with feedback from our clients on how much difference the service makes to people the council had a change of heart. It is worth the advice sector fighting their corner on this one.

    Report on 17 February 2011  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

Post a comment

Sign in or register to post a reply.

Related content

Our top deals

Credit card
company 		Balance transfers rate and period Representative
APR 		Apply
now

Barclaycard 22Mth Platinum Visa

0% for 22 months (2.9% fee) Representative 17.9% APR (variable) Apply
Representative example: assumed borrowing of £1,200, representative 17.9% APR (variable). Purchase rate 17.9% PA (variable). Refund offer reduces handling fee from 2.9% to equivalent 1.7% (Ts&Cs apply)

Virgin Money MasterCard

0% for 20 months (2.99% fee) Representative 16.8% APR (variable) Apply
Representative example: assumed borrowing of £1,200, representative 16.8% APR (variable). Purchase rate 16.8% PA (variable).

Barclaycard Low Fee Platinum Visa

0% for 17 months (1.6% fee) Representative 18.9% APR (variable) Apply
Representative example: assumed borrowing of £1,200, representative 18.9% APR (variable). Purchase rate 18.9% PA (variable).
W3C  Thank you for using The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse