Government Consultation on Debt Relief Orders
It is expected that nearly 3 million people will be at risk of long-term debt problems as a result of the pandemic.
One way in which people can access help is by applying for debt relief through a government Debt Relief Order. These were created to provide help for people:
- with very low incomes and no assets; and
- who can’t afford bankruptcy or haven’t enough money to come to a repayment arrangement with their creditors.
Right now, the government is consulting on some proposed changes to Debt Relief Orders. This is an important opportunity to help more people access debt relief.
That’s where you come in.
The government’s proposal is to make some changes to who can apply for the Debt Relief Order scheme, increasing the number of people who can access it by about 15,500 per year. While the changes are welcome, they fall far short of what is needed given the huge scale of debt problems that people have been experiencing since the pandemic hit.
By making your voice heard, together we could change thousands of lives for the better.
What do I do?
There are six questions in the government consultation, and it should take you roughly 10 minutes to answer them.
We’ve also included some suggested points to include, but you are completely free to include whatever you would like to in your response. It’s also helpful to speak as much as possible from your own experience, and if you don’t know how to answer some of the questions, it’s fine to skip them.
The last questions are more general, so you can make whatever points you want to at the end.
The consultation closes on the 26th of February, so we’ve only got a few weeks to have our say. Once you’ve filled in the survey, we’ll send all of the responses to the government.
The more people who add their voices and take part in the consultation, the more we are likely to see changes and get more support for people who are in debt.
Great, I’m ready!
If you are worried about debt, here are some organisations who may be able to help.