This morning I was delighted to launch my private members’ bill: The Families With Children in Debt (Respite) Bill. I have been honoured to receive significant support and was joined at the launch by a distinguished panel from the charity sector, including Martin Lewis from Money Saving Expert and Yvonne Forvague MP, Chair of the APPG on Debt and Personal Finance.
Having only been elected last year, I was indeed surprised to be selected in the ballot to bring forward a Bill so soon. However, as many will know, the welfare of children and families has always been a paramount issue for me.
That is why I was delighted to team up with The Children’s Society once again with their campaign to introduce a ‘Breathing Space’ scheme for vulnerable people and families in debt. With the valuable assistance from Step Change debt charity and others from the sector, we have been able to produce a Bill and plan to build momentum around the issue.
When it comes to problem debt, there is often unnecessary complications around getting the help and support needed to return to stability. Unfortunately, too many people don’t seek advice on their debt soon enough and creditors are not always giving people the help they need when they need it.
In Rochester and Strood alone, 15.9% of adults are over indebted accounting for over 13,700 people, many of whom could be vulnerable or have dependents.
With the statutory protection a breathing space would offer, it would encourage people to seek debt advice earlier. Knowing that by contacting a debt advice agency they could be offered legal support to prevent their creditors chasing them and receive help to pay their debts back in a safe and affordable way.
For me personally, much of my work has been around ensuring children can develop in the best possible environment, but within an indebted household this is often not the case. There can be a constant threat of losing the family home, family breakdown, and possibly violence. All of this can lead to them getting into similar difficulties that they carry forward into adulthood, repeating the cycle.
This is already running in Scotland which means we have a model to use that has already helped a great deal of people. The Scottish Debt Arrangement Scheme provides the similar frozen interest, reduced arrangement fees, more breathing space, reduced time on the credit file and debt advice as detailed in my Bill.
This, to me, is an obvious solution to a problem that impacts our society as a whole. At the end of the day, this is about paying off debt practically and getting people out of trouble as soon as possible. We have talked about it for so long and now is time to deliver.
I am looking forward to taking the Bill forwards in the House of Commons as well as across government in the weeks ahead and I hope to be able to rely on the support of colleagues across the House to achieve legislation that will help so many vulnerable people.