Debt in Scotland has become a new epidemic. It has claimed more and more individuals and households as the cost of living has risen dramatically and the value of incomes has declined in parallel. However, for many, options to tighten budgets in order to meet rising costs were already exercised long ago. There is nowhere left to go. What advice, support and assistance can be given to the rising number of people falling into debt that they cannot manage? Can their debt be reduced and stability restored to their living costs? Can our statutory debt management, debt relief and debt advice resources meet the volume of demand and the scale of need within that demand?
The Robertson Trust recently published research on Public Debt and Arrears in Scotland. It found more than 1 in 10 lowest-income and 1 in 100 highest-income households have council tax arrears. More than 50% of those behind on council tax are also cutting back on food to save money.
Households in all income brackets have faced relentless rises in energy costs, rent and mortgage rates and council tax. The statistics are chilling. 21% of adults are behind on one or more household bills. 1 in 9 are in energy arrears. 5% of adults are behind on their mortgage. 11% of adults have gone without heating, electricity, water or have skipped food due to costs. The position gets much worse lower down the income scale. 3 in 10 adults have had to use credit to pay for essentials such as food.
The Scottish Government has said it wants to take forward improvements in debt management solutions and it has moved to change some debt regulations. One change is additional protections for those managing debt under the Debt Arrangement Scheme, where increased living costs impact the ability to meet payments.
Set in this context, the ability to respond to debt and to manage it is crucial. Access to a joined-up system of debt management, relief and advice is essential if people are to somehow weather this economic storm. Do we have such a system? Is what is available sufficient to cope with these unprecedented levels of need? This conference assesses the drivers behind these debt levels. It discusses the systematic response required to support those in the most acute need and the role of front line debt advice in that response. Finally, it considers prevention, financial wellbeing, the link between mental health and financial stability and the practical support most valued by people in debt.
The programme examines the challenge we face in the growing breadth and depth of personal debt in families and households across Scotland. It discusses what action can be taken to reduce and prevent debt and promote financial stability and wellbeing. It focuses on three themes:
Topics to be discussed
Who should attend?
This conference is intended for all those working in the debt advice and management field and is intended for both organisations and individuals. It is relevant to public, private and third sector organisations advising those in debt, dealing with customers or consumers with debts or engaging with people in debt as part of a wider role. It is for debt advisor professionals (advising either debtors or creditors), those involved in legal processes relating to debt, rights advocates and counsellors, those shaping public policy and others directing individual organisational policy and practices. It is also relevant to those social policy and social service fields working with households and families dealing with debt in personal, housing, energy and other cost of living contexts.
Head of StepChange Debt Charity Scotland
Learning and Development Consultant
Money Advice Scotland
Financial Health Policy Manager
Citizens Advice Scotland
National Director Scotland
Christians Against Poverty
Head of Scotland
The Trussell Trust
Advice Services Manager for Debt & Money Advice
Citizens Advice Edinburgh
Financial Wellbeing Manager
Money Advice Scotland
Director of Children and Families
Aberlour
Sharon Bell
Head of StepChange Debt Charity Scotland
Sharon joined StepChange from the Scottish Government where she had previously served as Head of Policy at the Accountant in Bankruptcy from 2004 to 2012.
Sarah-Jane Dunn
Financial Health Policy Manager
Citizens Advice Scotland
Starting off her career in Money Advice in 2011, Sarah-Jayne began as a Money Adviser at Citizens Advice & Rights Fife assisting clients who were dealing with crisis debt, especially those facing eviction from a private let or repossession of their homes. Over the years, Sarah-Jayne moved to other bureaux across the Citizens Advice Network as a Money Adviser and Financial Capability Officer.
Prior to joining Citizens Advice Scotland in 2020 as their new Financial Health Policy Manager, Sarah-Jayne managed the Mental Health and Money Advice Service at Change Mental Health. Throughout her career, Sarah-Jayne has been quite active within the Money Advice Sector in Scotland especially in providing insight to government agencies such as the Scottish Government’s new Social Security Agency, DWP, HMRC and Accountant in Bankruptcy on how debt can have an impact on the people of Scotland’s mental health and wellbeing.
Emma Jackson
National Director Scotland
Christians Against Poverty
Emma is the Scotland Director for Christian’s Against Poverty (CAP) leading the work in Scotland of this UK wide debt and anti-poverty charity. This includes a network of 25 community based debt centres providing holistic advice and support for households on some of the lowest incomes in Scotland. Emma has worked for CAP for 7 years, previously working in senior leadership in disability and Higher Education. Emma speaks widely on the subject of debt, poverty and the inclusion of those with lived experience. Emma is also a contributor for BBC Radio Scotland’s Thought for the Day and a board member for the Poverty Alliance.
Polly Jones
Head of Scotland
The Trussell Trust
Polly has over 20 years’ experience of policy, research and campaigns on poverty and inequality in the global south and in Scotland. She brings particular knowledge and skills on food insecurity and how we reduce the need for charitable food aid in Scotland from her management of the A Menu for Change project and in her current role as head of Scotland for the Trussell Trust.
Andrew Nicolson
Advice Services Manager for Debt & Money Advice
Citizens Advice Edinburgh
Andrew’s involvement in money advice stretches back to 2009 when he started as Money Advice Assistant at Musselburgh Citizens Advice Bureau. He later worked as a Money Adviser at the Bureau between 2012 and 2017.
During this time Andrew worked on several new initiatives to help those in debt crisis in East Lothian. He worked closely with East Lothian Council to establish easier access to debt advice for those at risk of homelessness through rent arrears and helped to establish new outreach locations in the county.
After spending time at a charity focussed on addiction recovery, Andrew returned to money advice in 2021, joining Citizens Advice Edinburgh as a debt adviser on the newly established national debt helpline. He has been Advice Services Manager for Debt & Money Advice at CAE since November 2021.
Jenny Pittams
Financial Wellbeing Manager
Money Advice Scotland
Jenny joined Money Advice Scotland in 2019. She is now the Financial Wellbeing Manager and leads the Financial Capability and Adviser Wellbeing projects.
Money Advice Scotland is Scotland’s money charity. Its mission is to be the driving force towards financial wellbeing for the people of Scotland. It takes a rights-based approach to financial wellbeing. It believes that everyone has the right to have control and choice in their financial life, have a decent standard of living and be treated with respect.
Money Advice scotland is a membership organisation and provides training, events, and resources to the money advice sector. It aims to ensure that money advisers have a platform to report social policy concerns via its evidence base and offers various other types of support for professionals in the money advice sector at a time when demand for advice is increasing.
Through its policy work, it strives to be a strong voice for consumers and people in debt by identifying detriment and acting on it. It helps to improve people’s financial wellbeing by delivering workshops to schools, colleges, and workplaces across Scotland.
Jim Wallace
Director of Children and Families
Aberlour
Jim qualified as a social worker in 1982, and worked in a variety of social work posts for Grampian Regional Council, before joining Barnardo’s Scotland in 1994.There, he undertook a number of roles including Assistant Director Children’s Services, Acting Head of Children’s Services and Head of Children’s Services before joining Aberlour as Director of Children and Families in April 2015.
Jim has significant experience in setting up new services in response to need. He established both the Linksfield Project and Springboard service, which were the first services for Barnardo’s in the North-east of Scotland and the Highlands respectively.
With Aberlour, he oversaw the launch of Aberlour Sycamore – Highland and Aberlour Sustain – Ross-shire, the first being a dedicated residential service for children who can’t live with their parents, and the latter being a preventative service, working with children that are on the edge of being taken into care.
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