Policy and Government

CAP welcomed the opportunity to respond to this consultation, looking at legislative proposals for a 60-day breathing space and a statutory Debt Management Plan (DMP). We are broadly supportive of these schemes being introduced, so long as they include debts owed to local and central government, helping to provide time and space to reach and implement a debt solution. However, we are concerned that the current proposals may be too onerous and place excessive costs on debt advice.

CAP has responded to the latest consultation from the AiB, looking at the design of their Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS). We were pleased to see the suggested introduction of short term crisis payment breaks, helping to effectively support people in financial hardship. We did suggest, however, that the automatic approval process for a DAS Debt Payment Programme should be higher than suggested, bringing it in line with other debt solutions for consistency. To read more, click below. 

CAP welcomes the FCA’s latest consultation on rent-to-own (RTO) and alternatives to high-cost credit. We were pleased to see the proposals aimed to reduce the harm in the RTO industry and agree that intervention is necessary. We welcome the proposals for a 100% price cap, as well as the requirement for benchmarking the base price, helping to reduce the cost of RTO goods and make them more affordable. We were concerned, however, that the rule regarding controlling the price of arrears may be too vague and in need of additional detail, in order to ensure that the measures designed to reduce harm are effective. Read our full response below.

Today we launched the first paper in our Checking in series exploring the experiences of CAP clients who are early Universal Credit claimants. Each year CAP helps 20,000 people in the grip of debt and poverty. 82% of whom will transition onto Universal Credit in the next few years. These are people living on low incomes, with a high incidence of mental and physical health problems and other difficulties that mean their financial worries are just the tip of the iceberg. Download this briefing paper to read their experiences of applying and waiting for Universal Credit. This is the first paper in a series of three presenting the experiences of CAP clients who are early Universal Credit claimants. The next instalments, due in January and February 2019, will explore how debt and Universal Credit interact and what it is like to live and work while receiving Universal Credit.

CAP has responded to the Utility Regulator’s consultation on their Consumer Protection Strategy (CPS) review and proposed a new Consumer Protection Programme (CPP). We are pleased to be able to feed our views into the new CPP, helping utilities companies in Northern Ireland to bring about better outcomes for their vulnerable customers. To read our full response, please click below.