Money Advice Trust publishes its latest Outcomes Report
The Money Advice Trust has published its Outcomes Report 2021
Posted June 15, 2022
The Money Advice Trust has published its Outcomes Report 2021, which outlines the impact of the charity’s activity across its National Debtline and Business Debtline services, training and influencing work.
In 2021 the charity helped 170,420 people through its National and Business Debtline services with 1.63 million visits to its advice websites.
National Debtline, which provides free, impartial debt advice, helped 107,510 people over the phone and via its digital advice tool, with a further 27,430 people helped through webchat. Over the course of the year, National Debtline’s advice website had 1.3 million visits.
After advice from National Debtline:
- 94 percent of callers are clear on their next steps
- four in five said their debts reduced or stabilised
- seven in ten saw a positive impact on their emotional and mental wellbeing.
In 2021, Business Debtline, the UK’s only dedicated free advice service for small business owners, provided a vital line of support for businesses continuing to feel financial effects of the pandemic. The service helped 22,740 small business owners and self-employed people over the phone with a further 12,740 helped via webchat. In addition, there were 323,500 visits to the Business Debtline website.
Wiseradviser, the Money Advice Trust’s training programme for money advisers, trained more advisers than ever before, providing 26,780 training places to 4,300 debt advisers in the UK.
After training from Wiseradviser:
- 98 percent of advisers said the training improved their knowledge
- 99 percent felt better at helping people with debt problems
- nine in ten were helped to improve outcomes for their clients.
The Money Advice Trust’s training and consultancy work played an important role in supporting creditors to improve their support for customers in vulnerable circumstances. Training was delivered to 3,690 staff in 45 creditor organisations. After e-learning 99 percent of users rated their knowledge as very good or excellent.
The Trust continued to work to improve the UK’s money and debt environment. This included submitting 25 consultation and policy responses and securing 1,600 items of media coverage on issues affecting clients contacting its services.
Joanna Elson CBE, chief executive of the Money Advice Trust, said:
“Last year was a particularly difficult year for millions of people as the financial effects of Covid-19 continued to be felt. Our advice services played a crucial role in hundreds of thousands of lives as we helped people to take the steps to tackle their debts.
“We were able to continue to adapt our work to the changing landscape, brought about by the pandemic. This included, building on our Wiseradviser programme for debt advisers, which last year saw us train more advisers than ever before. We also further developed our vulnerability training, introducing new courses on inclusive design and suicide first aid to improve support for customers in vulnerable services.
“Important progress was also made in key policy areas, including bailiff reform, working with partners to bring into being a new Enforcement Conduct Board, which will bring independent oversight to the bailiff industry for the first time.
“None of this, however, would be possible without the valued support of our partners. At a time when the impact of the cost of living is hitting budgets hard and when our services are needed more than ever, continuing to work in partnership to address these challenges will be vital. We will continue to do all we can to improve the lives of people in financial difficulty.”
