Petition re MAPS funded debt advice - UPDATE

fatbelly

See post 7 January

Most of the debt advice in the UK is delivered though Money and Pensions Service (MAPS) funding.

Proposed changes are likely to result in cuts to funding for Debt Advice of up to 50%, with face-to-face debt advice particularly affected as MAPS moves much of its debt advice provision towards call centre style telephone advice and web chats. This decision has been made without proper consultation with debt advisers or the agencies they work in.

We already have reports from advisers working under the existing MAPS contract that they are unable to undertake all their casework within their working week, often working an average of six hours a week more than they are contracted to.  They also report that low morale, work induced stress and depression are endemic.  Yet MAPS is demanding more work with fewer staff and threatening financial penalties for those unable to meet targets.

The debt advice sector is experiencing an exodus of experienced advisers unwilling to work under a MAPS contract and it appears that over half of the remaining locally-based advisers will be unable to continue doing this work in the new regime.

We are asking for:

• An immediate pause to the commissioning process.  The new contract terms were established prior to the pandemic and take no account of the new realities, with many more people now in financial trouble.  No impact assessment has been carried out on the switch to telephone and digital advice or the predictable human cost of the reduction in face-to-face advice.  We are unaware of any assessment on the expected job losses.
• We require a new commissioning process that consults with advisers and their agencies to see how best to design the new advice provision model.  Advisers on the ground know what works and what doesn’t, they can see the need for face-to-face when they meet the client with an eviction notice peeking out of the pile of threatening letters.  Any new commissioning needs to take full account of the need for this kind of advice.
• Advisers need immediate relief from the stress of the current contract arrangement where they are forced to spend more time completing tortuous and bureaucratic forms and ticking boxes than helping their clients.

We have today started a change.org petition, calling for a pause of the MAPS recommissioning process. You can sign up for that here 

https://www.change.org/p/the-money-and-pensions-service-an-immediate-pause-to-the-money-and-pension-service-recommissioning-of-debt-advice

Jude57

Thanks for highlighting this @fatbelly. I worked in the telephone/online debt advice area and I'm sure you'd agree it's one effective way of delivering advice. 

However, there will always be a need for face to face advice and for casework which is difficult (not impossible if the will is there) to deliver exclusively by phone or online. There are clients who aren't comfortable using the phone, or who don't have private access to a computer, or who are not confident of using a computer/internet or who have literacy or language difficulties. People who are financially excluded often have other vulnerabilities which, for me, are best supported face to face. 

Please consider signing this petition to safeguard such an important source of advice and support for those who desperately need it.

sourcrates

Done, signed for you fb.

fatbelly

Thanks. Watching the numbers rise. Not 24 hours old yet and 213 signed. I may write some more explanation of the background to this later.

EssexHebridean

It was going up at a nice rate when I signed earlier.

capuchin

Done. Have you considered approaching surrogates who could raise the profile of this for you fast via twitter etc? (I could suggest lots of legal ones, but unfortunately know nobody in the debt world!)

Gettingtherequickly

Still going up, so important to highlight.

fatbelly

Yes, over 300 now.

I've put a better link in, and my next post will give some background to why debt advisers are so negative towards their main funder.

Rather than write an essay myself I have transcribed one from IMA Quarterly account (unfortunately a paper-only publication) written by an experienced adviser who was forced out of that line of work by the stupidity of the MAPS contract. 

Give me a minute...

EssexHebridean

Is there a twitter account where this is mentioned that people can simply retweet, as a starting point for getting the word out? 

fatbelly

"Sadly, MAPS debt advisors are subject to a draconian audit regime which focuses on detriment, where judgements are inconsistent, the requirements and goalposts constantly move and outcomes for clients are not measured at all.  Simultaneously the contract imposes targets - the number of clients seem.  The two are Inconsistent.  Advisers have to see a minimum number of clients but, in order to meet audit requirements, have to record and confirm advice in a prescribed and massively time-consuming way.  With increasingly complex cases, advisors dealing regularly with safeguarding issues, the requirement to complete a minimum number of hours of training, admin, organisational meetings, supporting other members of staff and file reviews there are simply not enough hours in the week to deliver both quality and quantity.  And that is before any case work. 

 

The MAPS website describes themselves as “An arm's length body”.  Absolutely.  It is remote.  It cannot be held directly accountable for the impact of the contract on the health and wellbeing of those who are employed by contractors to deliver it.  But it could agree to listen and act upon the findings of the IMA’s recent research into advisor workload and wellbeing which was damning.  It could consider alternative ways of measuring success such as outcomes or levels of engagement.  It could trust that advisors will use the hours they are paid for constructively and drop the target requirement completely.  It could respect the professionalism and expertise of debt advisors by allowing them to present information to clients in a meaningful and accessible way tailored to ability and need rather than imposing a blanket requirement.  It could take a long hard look at the time it actually takes to properly support clients where serious mental health issues, complex and multiple debts, threatened or actual homelessness, domestic abuse and suicidal ideation are now routine.  It could take a leaf out of its own book in terms of “Actual and potential detriment” and apply this to the health and wellbeing of debt advisors.  It could consider why staff are having to be offered access to counselling services and stress management courses and look at tackling the causes rather than sticking plasters over the wounds.

 

I would urge any organisation currently operating a MAPS contract to consider their statutory duty of care to those employees who are being expected to deliver it. Whilst there will be clear financial implications, I would strongly encourage any organisation considering tending for a Maps contract to look carefully at whether it is something that can realistically be delivered. 

 

Debt advisors struggling under MAPS contracts must speak to their employers, put their concerns in writing if necessary, and join a union.  They should work only the hours they are paid for and say when they have reached client capacity.  if the job can't be done to the expected standard within contractual hours then it is the contract that needs to change. 

 

The physical and emotional impacts of stress, and of supporting vulnerable people in traumatic situations, cannot be underestimated.  I recognise that, despite the incredible support from my employer, the contract was beginning to impact on my health and home life.  Debt advisors are fully trained, extremely knowledgeable people who have valuable transferable skills; they are capable of securing alternative employment and that is exactly what I've done.  The relief is immense and whilst I'm earning slightly less I am happy and well."

 

From IMA Quarterly Account Summer 2021 page 31

Here's a similar account from another adviser forced out

https://www.onlineucan.org/2021/11/debt-adviser-secretly-tells-ucan-of.html?m=1

kimwp

Signed! Sad that we require a petition to ask for a job to be done adequately.