Government Debt Advice Strategy Branded A ‘Failure’

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The management of the government's strategy for helping people in debt has been branded a "complete failure" by a committee of MPs.

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The Public Accounts Committee said 51 different projects since 2004 had been uncoordinated, with no-one in charge.

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The management of the government's strategy for helping people in debt has been branded a "complete failure" by a committee of MPs.

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The Public Accounts Committee said 51 different projects since 2004 had been uncoordinated, with no-one in charge.

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The committee's report said 11% of adults were struggling with debts, with the population's total personal debt reaching almost £1.5 trillion.

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The committee praised one initiative to give face-to-face debt advice. Overall though, the committee's chairman, Edward Leigh MP, was scathing.

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"In 2004, the government launched a strategy aimed at improving the support to, and reducing the number of, people who struggle with unmanageable debt," he said.

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"No one is in charge of the strategy; groups intended to oversee it have not met, and there has been no reporting on its progress since 2007".

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