CM October 2023

SEAN FEAST FCICM
MANAGING EDITOR
Editor’s column
Working together will help more
individuals become debt free
STEPCHANGE has been
through some difficult times
in recent months. It had to
manage its way through the
disappointment of the Money
and Pension Service’s decision
not to go ahead with its bid for national
debt advice and and Debt Relief Order
delivery. It required a pivot, and a need
to revisit its place in a constantly evolving
debt landscape.
That it is emerging from such
disappointment is a credit to its Chief
Executive, Vicki Brownridge, who I caught
up with in our interview on page 12.
What I particularly admire about Vicki is
her candour, especially when it comes to
the thorny issue of FairShare and future
funding models.
Our readers will remember that it has
been a particular hobby horse of ours for
some time, and our previous frustration in
failing to receive a straight answer to what
we always considered a comparatively
straight question. Vicki is different. She
acknowledges that all is not well and it
needs fixing, and the extent to which
StepChange will be able to continue to
help clients at the current rate – c15,500
per month (as at July 2023) – will be a
challenge.
Pressure on household incomes
means there are fewer people with any
level of repayment potential coming for
debt advice. Deposits are also reducing
for those who are already on debt
management plans because their budgets
have been further impacted by the costof-living
crisis. As the charity’s funding
is linked to that one, single solution, its
funding therefore tends to be squeezed.
Help is at hand, however, from what in
some ways is an unlikely source. Whereas
in the past, the debt purchase industry and
the charity sector have been obliged to rub
along like untrusting siblings, I sense a
new spirit of genuine collaboration. Vicki
senses it too and says that the charity’s
relationship with the debt purchase
sector is probably the strongest it has
ever been. She says she has seen a major
improvement in collections practices over
the last few years and many incidences
of best practice in terms of treating
customers fairly.
Let us hope that is the case, because only
by working together will the charities and
creditors achieve their mutual declared
ambitions of delivering better consumer
outcomes. And if they can do that, then
they will ultimately help more individuals
to become debt free.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / October 2023 / PAGE 3