Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Financial Conduct Authority’s thematic review <i>Quality of debt management advice</i>.

The Government is concerned about problems in the debt management market, including the quality of advice which was highlighted by the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) thematic review.

This is why we reformed debt management regulation, transferring responsibility to the FCA’s more robust regime to better protect consumers. The FCA has put in place binding standards on firms and has a strong enforcement toolkit to take action against firms if these rules are broken.

The FCA is currently scrutinising debt management firms as part of its authorisation process. Firms which do not meet the required standards will not be able to continue to provide debt management services.