Policy and Government

Over the past couple of weeks our team has been at the Labour and Conservative party conferences. Between them they’ve represented CAP at 24 meetings and events, connecting with others working to tackle UK poverty. Rachel Gregory, CAP’s Social Policy Manager said:

‘While it’s been an interesting and turbulent time politically, there are lots of vital issues that we cannot take our sights off. We’ve attended events about food poverty, financial inclusion, bailiff regulation, Universal Credit and loneliness to name a few. My favourite quote from this week came from Alison Garnham, CEO of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), who said, "Poverty is policy responsive, if we do the right things it goes down". That’s why, while the conferences are over for another year, we will continue to speak out to see the changes needed.’

We are pleased to be able to respond to Ofgem's latest consultation on self-disconnection and self-rationing. This topic is particularly pertinent for CAP's clients, with more than half (53%) on a prepayment meter having self-disconnected. We are glad that Ofgem is looking into solutions, and were particularly pleased to see the Ability to Pay principles put into license conditions. However, there is concern that there is no detail on what sustainable support would look like for those experiencing long term self-disconnection.

Fuel poverty is still very much present in the UK today, with one in five of CAP's clients going without heating on a daily basis during winter, and so CAP welcomes this important review of the fuel poverty strategy. However, we felt that the strategy failed to address the range of factors that contribute to fuel poverty and needed to be backed by adequate resources in order to achieve the targets set out.

We welcome the opportunity to respond to Ofgem's latest Consumer Vulnerability Strategy. Following the original 2013 document, it is good to take stock of the progress so far and identify any gaps that remain. We recognise the need for action in the five priority areas that this review has highlighted.

CAP has responded to a call for evidence to back amendments to Scotland's Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS). DAS is a statutory debt repayment plan available to help people in problem debt in Scotland. The proposed changes will put debtors' interests front and centre in the scheme, for example by introducing short-term crisis payment breaks. However, we believe a couple of changes are needed to ensure consistency with other debt solutions in the UK.