"Don't cut £25m of debt counselling..." blog discussion

twoblackcats_2

I was appalled when I read about this the other day, it seems completely at odds with the idea of the big society and at a time of economic downturn, cutting funding to services like this that help people with debt seems criminal.

When I read your blog, I did wonder if you might consider approaching 38Degrees at 38degrees.org.uk and seeing if they will work with you on some kind of action. They've been campaigning on many different current issues - I am not a member of the team, but have signed petitions and written to my MP through 38Degrees on a couple of issues - and together, you might have an impact. I shall be going over to sign the petition already linked in this post, but I thought this might be worth suggesting.

Terri31

MSE_Martin wrote: »

the problem with wanting 'street protests' or 'petitions' is only 1/5th of the number of people are reading this blog than the John Lewis price promise blog - it just doesn't grab pubilc attention.

Yes; it wasn't entirely serious as a suggestion - I think street protests only happen when everyone is completely and absolutely fed up with a situation/government in its entirety.

dancingfairy

I have read the Hansard notes in the link provided by Fermi and whilst I agreed with the majority of comments they didn't seem to come to any conclusion - no real plan on how to get funding re-instated for the FIF. It is great to see talking but what we need is action right now.
Perhaps the government can fund the FIF again due to this latest levy on banks - this would in my opinion make the most sense.
df

lemonjelly

MSE_Martin wrote: »

I have signed the petition

Martin,

thank you, I am humbled & extremely grateful for this!:o:T

As no doubt the staff and service users of Birmingham CAB.

Best wishes also to any other advice agency out there!

I owe you.;)

Pembroke

Maybe it's time to find some way of funding the debt advice industry from those that make and collect the debts so some sort of surcharge on financial institutions and DCA's paid into a central fund so they couldn't influence the advice given.

After all it really is in their best interests that debtors are given best advice when it comes to settling debt otherwise in a few years time a quickie bankruptcy may be seen as the normal way of getting rid of debt rather than being financially responsible and paying off the money owed.

WestonDave

It might be worth listening to the discussion on Radio 4's today programme this morning regarding mounting successful campaigns - involved a chap from the Big Issue. The point he made was that in effect he'd "packaged" the apparently undesirable (i.e. the homeless) in a way which made them more acceptable and in so doing went a long way to raising their plight.

This I think may be key here. In the same way that its tempting to look on the homeless and think "well that's their own fault" the same view can arise about those in debt "Well if they hadn't greedily spent more than they could afford etc etc". Clearly those in the know on both fronts will be aware that whilst some indeed get into trouble through being stupid or naive, its also possible just to be a significantly impacted by a change in circumstances - loss of a job, health or relationship breakdown etc.

The risk is that this ends up being seen as a campaign to "help the greedy" and so lacks public support. Bland talk of wanting to support debt advice plays into this because it leaves people to their own prejudices about those in debt. If this is to work we need to look at doing a "Big Issue" on debtors - turning them from undesirables to real people making an effort to claw their way back up. Whether or not you agree with the motivation or religion behind it, CAP (Christians against Poverty) has done a lot of work in making the stories real. Most of their campaign material revolves around real stories of people they have helped. In general terms its easy for people to not care about an amorphous group called "debtors" or people vaguely titled as debt advisors losing their jobs. In my view if you want to make an impact its got to be personalised - which is difficult because of the nature of what's being talked about.

The other thing to do is have a look at the recent/ongoing Fish fight campaign - that's used a lot of tools and whilst its unlikely this campaign will have access to a number of programmes on mainstream TV, there may be lessons to learn - e.g. getting an Early Day Motion on the list that people can pressure their MP's to sign as opposed to just getting a meaningless letter of platitudes from them. That campaign shows the value of having something that everyone can get behind - noone can argue that throwing good fish away is a sensible idea. There are some issues with promoting debt advice and for a successful campaign those issues have to be well managed, otherwise it will remain a minority interest.

N1AK

Firstly, there are two different cases that can be made to defend this. First is that helping those in need is the right thing to do, the second is that it saves everyone money in the end. In the end you are asking people to pay (via taxes) to support people who got themselves into unmanagable debt. A lot of these people didn't do this due to extreme circumstances, they did it by being !!!!less and this makes them a difficult group to evoke pity for.

Personally I would like to see a compelling case made showing that the cost of supporting someone with a debt issue is marginal compared to the alternative. If a strong case can be made, this would persuade more analytical people (such as myself) and might buy some credibility with broadsheet style news sources.

Persuading the government to change its mind is obviously more complex. I doubt that much headway will be made without meeting the government half-way. This would mean accepting that funding will be decreased, but trying to maintain some funding for the most successful areas. This might be the lifeline needed to save some of the most worthy organisations, and provide a platform to extend from over time as funding allows.

Joe_Bloggs

If you mismanage your debts the consequences are serious .If you have dependants then these consequences will trickle down to your children. In the end it is the state that picks up the tab for poorly educated people or for those that fall on hard times.
J_B.

dancingfairy

actually I think research has shown that the CAB help those that have been affected due to job loss, death in the family, family breakdown, illness etc - ie beyond people's control.Yes there are those that have been reckless but these I'm sure are vastly outnumbered by those mentioned above and those that struggle due to financial education and struggling to undestand finances etc and their consequences.
Secondly even if most people were in the situation by being reckless which I disagree with anyway - surely they still need help and support and helping them to rebuild a solid stable future and prevent them getting in these situations again or do you believe in seeing everyone who has ever made a mistake sidelined on the streets with no hope and compassion? and yes that is the reality - a read through the parliament script today shows how many suicides and how many homeless people have been prevented through one project alone.
df

dancingfairy

Joe_Bloggs wrote: »

If you mismanage your debts the consequences are serious .If you have dependants then these consequences will trickle down to your children. In the end it is the state that picks up the tab for poorly educated people or for those that fall on hard times.
J_B.

I agree and I agree partly with what N1AK said -the case needs to be made in cold hard facts and also that some sarifices will undoubtedly need to be made by the CAB etc but that retaining funding for the most critical areas would be a good start.
df