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Founded | 1993 |
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Founder | Vic Ware, Malcolm Hurlston |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Services | Debt advice and support |
Employees | 1,150 |
Website | stepchange |
Formerly called | Consumer Credit Counselling Service |
StepChange Debt Charity, formerly the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), [1] is the trading name of the Foundation for Credit Counselling, and is a debt counselling charity in the United Kingdom. The organisation offers free debt advise, money management and can be contacted through its freephone telephone helpline [2] or online through its onine debt advice tool. [3] In 2022, over 500,000 people contacted the charity for help. [4] The charity also campaigns to change policies and practices that trap people in problem debt.
Its current Chair is Lesley Titcomb CBE. [5] The Chief Executive of the charity is Vikki Brownridge who took over from Phil Andrew in May 2023. [6]
StepChange provides debt advice to clients online and via telephone. Clients have their financial situation evaluated, and are recommended debt solutions, including insolvency options, bankruptcy, individual voluntary arrangements, or debt management plans.
This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(April 2024) |
Since early 2021 the charity has also provided eligible clients opportunity to enter “Breathing Space”, allowing them to receive 60 days' respite from interest, fees, and court action to reduce stress and give them time to sort out a debt solution.
StepChange Scotland, which operates under the differing Scottish system, provides specific services to Scottish clients. StepChange Scotland is an approved organisation for setting up debt payment plans through the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS).
The charity was founded in 1993 when Vic Ware OBE and Malcolm Hurlston introduced the Consumer Credit Counselling Service to the UK via a pilot scheme based in Leeds. [7] [8]
The introduction of debt counselling over the telephone proved to be a success and the charity expanded throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The charity has continued to grow in recent years. In 2007 it established a non-profit individual voluntary arrangement service [9] and in 2010 launched a free equity release advice service.[ citation needed ]
On 5 November 2012 the charity rebranded as StepChange Debt Charity. [1] [10]
In 2017 the charity was contacted by almost 620,000 people seeking debt help and delivered over 357,000 detailed debt advice sessions. [11] By 2019 the number getting in contact had risen to 635,000, but in 2020 the charity saw a reduced number of only 500,000 people getting in touch, which it attributes to the support measures put in place by the British government and credit industry in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. [12]
The charity's head office is in Leeds, England. There are also centres in the English municipalities of Newcastle, Birmingham, Chester, Scotland's largest city of Glasgow, and the Welsh capital of Cardiff. The charity also has an office in London.
As well as providing advice, the organisation also campaigns for change to reduce the incidence of problem debt, and successfully worked with other charities to influence the Government to introduce a statutory a "Breathing Space" debt respite scheme. [13] Other campaigning work on overdrafts, credit cards, and high cost credit [14] has resulted in policy changes from the Financial Conduct Authority, and the charity continues to press for the reform of bailiff legislation as part of the Taking Control coalition of charities.
StepChange Debt Charity is funded mostly by voluntary donations from creditors as well as allocated Government funding through the Money and Pensions Service, [15] and works with over 900 partner organisations. The charity also accepts donations from the general public. [16] In 2020, the charity received income of £60.6m and had operating costs of £63.4m, including a £3.9m increase in staff costs, reflecting increased colleague number during the year. These costs also reflect the improvements made after a decade, to colleague remuneration and benefits under the charity’s Total Reward strategy.
Samaritans is a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, often through its telephone helpline. Its name derives from the biblical Parable of the Good Samaritan, although the organisation itself is not religious.
Citizens Advice is an independent organisation specialising in confidential information and advice to assist people with legal, debt, consumer, housing and other problems in the United Kingdom.
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Credit counseling is commonly a process that is used to help individual debtors with debt settlement through education, budgeting and the use of a variety of tools with the goal to reduce and ultimately eliminate debt. Credit counseling is most often done by Credit counseling agencies that are empowered by contract to act on behalf of the debtor to negotiate with creditors to resolve debt that is beyond a debtor's ability to pay. Some of the agencies are non-profits that charge at no or non-fee rates, while others can be for-profit and include high fees. Regulations on credit counseling and Credit counseling agencies varies by country and sometimes within regions of the countries themselves. In the United States, individuals filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy are required to receive counseling.
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Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a Christian charitable company in the United Kingdom founded in Bradford, West Yorkshire by John Kirkby in 1996. It is a national organisation specialising in debt counselling for people in financial difficulty, including those in need of bankruptcy or insolvency. It also provides Job Clubs for those seeking employment, Life Skills groups to help people with practical skills for surviving on a low income, and Fresh Start Courses for those looking to overcome addictions and dependencies.
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Cruse Bereavement Support and its counterpart Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland are the United Kingdom's largest bereavement charity, which provide bereavement support to people suffering from grief.
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The Silver Line is a free confidential telephone helpline offering information, friendship and advice to older people in the United Kingdom, available 24 hours a day. As of 1 October 2019 The Silver Line joined forces with Age UK to help more of the older people who are struggling with loneliness and isolation. The Silver Line is a subsidiary of Age UK and still has its own brand, registered charity number, Board of Trustees and CEO.
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