Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of capacity of debt advice services funded through the Money and Pensions Service to meet demand.

The Government recognises the vital role that advice services play in helping people in problem debt and vulnerable circumstances.

To help people in problem debt, the Government continues to maintain record levels of funding for free-to-client debt advice in England, bringing the 2023-24 debt advice funding for the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to over £92 million. MaPS expect to serve over 500,000 clients with debt advice this year. Further information can be found in MaPS’ 2023-24 corporate plan: https://moneyandpensionsservice.org.uk/corporate-strategy-and-plan/

MaPS carry out an annual Debt Need survey to assess the proportion of the population which would benefit from debt advice, based on their financial circumstances. The latest results from the 2022 survey can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/2023/01/25/need-for-debt-advice-and-how-households-are-reacting-to-changes-in-the-cost-of-living/.