Task Force on Tackling Overindebtedness

The Task Force on Overindebtedness was set up in October 2000 to address concerns about consumer debt in the UK by considering ways of achieving more responsible lending and borrowing.

March 2003 - National Debtline Evalutation

The Money Advice Debtline pilot project (National Debtline) was launched in March 2002 to deliver free specialist debt advice and a debt repayment planning service to consumers in financial difficulty.

Funded by a partnership between Government and the credit industry, the pilot tested three forms of free debt advice provision:

• national access to telephone and electronic advice (Birmingham)

• local access to telephone and electronic advice (Fife)

• peripatetic local face-to-face advice (Cornwall).

The evaluation, which was carried out by Deloitte & Touche, assesses the extent to which the pilot met its aims in the following four broad areas:

• Demand: did the Pilot satisfy a customer need?

• Operations: had the Pilot been well run?

• Finance: were its financial objectives met?

• Policy: whether the pilot met the government aims?

Evaluation report (85 pages).

National Debtline case studies (web page).

January 2003 - Second Report of the Task Force on Tackling Overindebtedness

The Task Force on Tackling Overindebtedness' second report was published in January 2003. It contains the findings of the Working Groups set up in response to recommendations in the first report; including research done for the Key Questions and Prior Information Working Groups by Carne Martin Qualitative Research.

Executive Summary
Full Report (includes Executive Summary)
Key Questions Research (Carne Martin)
Prior Information Research (Carne Martin)

January 2003 - Ministerial Response to the Second Report

The Minister for Consumers published a response to the Second Report of the Task Force on Tackling Overindebtedness.

Ministerial response.
DTI Press Notice about response.

November 2002 - Household Survey on the Cause, Extent and Effects of Overindebtedness.

In the first report of the Task Force on Tackling Overindebtedness (above), the need for up-to-date statistical information on the distribution of consumer borrowing across households, and the extent of financial difficulties being experienced, was recognised.

Responding to this, the Department of Trade and Industry commissioned MORI – who worked in partnership with Bristol University’s Personal Finance Research Centre (PFRC) – to conduct a national research survey.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Competition, Consumers and Markets, announced the publication of the Report of the survey in a speech to the Money Advice Liaison Group (MALG) Conference on 27 November 2002.

Ministerial Speech to MALG Conference.

Survey Report
Contents	Summary
Chapter 1	Chapter 2
Chapter 3	Chapter 4
References	Appendix

July 2001 - First Report of the Task Force 

Its first report was published in July 2001. In it they made a number of recommendations, including the need for research into the cause, effect and extent of overindebtedness in the UK today and the setting up of a number of Working Groups.

First Task Force Report (July 2001).

DTI Contacts

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