Unlocking £23 billion: How data and proactive engagement can enhance pre-arrears support
12 June
Council tax debt, known as a ‘gateway’ debt, has grown over 10% in a year and bills for energy, utilities and council tax are expected to rise faster than inflation. Families are struggling to cope.
Leading debt advice charity, StepChange, revealed that one in four clients say cost of living pressures are their main reason for debt. In 2023, StepChange advised one new client every three minutes, and three in five of their clients are in work.
Against this backdrop a staggering £23 billion of support is set to go unclaimed in 2024, leaving millions of households missing out on support worth £2,700 a year, on average.
Policy in Practice is working with StepChange to proactively identify households that are missing out on support, helping them to apply and tackling their problem debt. The results are life changing.
With guest speakers Vanessa Northam, Head of Charity Development, StepChange and Stuart Bungay, Strategic Advisor, Policy in Practice
Listen back to hear
- New analysis on unclaimed benefits and support in the UK
- What support is going unclaimed, and why
- How we work with local authorities to proactively target people for assessment
- StepChange case study: Using data to support Welfare Benefits Service in Scotland
- Understanding eligibility options
- Questions and answers with our panel
Listen back to our speakers
When we talk about people missing out I think the temptation is to think about this as a binary thing with people either claiming everything or claiming nothing. The reality is that there's a vast majority of people in the middle who claim something but perhaps don't claim all of the things they're entitled to. That's what we want to tackle as part of the the processes and tools we've developed.
By the time people are missing payments there's already a significant problem, and the tools and solutions become less. I encourage everybody to look at the start of that relationship. On your website, normalise that it's OK to engage because when people do you can offer the help. It's all about that earlier engagement.
