Our Debt & Benefits advice service
Our mission
At Money Advice Plus, we are dedicated to helping individuals manage their financial situations effectively, ensuring they receive the guidance and support needed to achieve financial stability. Our Debt and Benefit advice service provides expert, confidential support tailored to each person’s unique needs, helping them navigate debt challenges and understand their benefit entitlements.
Our mission is to deliver high-quality, person-centred debt and benefit advice to those who need it most. By creating an agile and responsive service, we ensure that everyone we support can access the help they require, no matter how complex their financial situation.
Our approach
We understand that financial issues often come with emotional stress. That’s why our service is compassionate, confidential, and respectful. We work collaboratively with clients, focusing on their well-being and promoting financial independence.
Debt advice services we offer
- All personal debts (Rent arrears, Council Tax arrears, credit cards etc.): We provide advice on both priority and non-priority debts.
- Support with budgeting and maximising your income: Helping your clients and customers create a sustainable budget to effectively manage their income and expenses.
- Support to process DRO, Bankruptcies or Breathing Space applications: Exploring options such as Debt Relief Orders (DROs), Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), and bankruptcy to find the best path forward for your clients and customers’ circumstances. Providing long term casework so your clients and customers can reach their chosen debt solution.
- Negotiation with creditors: Communicating and negotiating repayment plans to relieve financial pressure.
- Access to Charitable grants and assistance: Providing advice about what is available to your clients and customers, including reducing tariffs for water/phone and broadband.
- Economic abuse: We provide specialist debt advice services through a lens of economic safety for victim-survivors of domestic and economic abuse. We use our innovative Economic Abuse Evidence Form (EAEF). Find out more – Centre of Excellence for Debt and Economic Abuse Services
Benefit services we offer
- Benefit entitlement checks: Ensuring your clients and customers receive all the support they are entitled to and advising on applications.
- Support to claim benefits, including appeals: Guiding your clients and customers through the process if you need to challenge a benefits decision.
- Tailored advice: Helping your clients and customers understand how changes in their circumstances may impact your benefits.
Case study
This year we have been working closely with the Sovereign Debt Team, to improve client engagement and outcomes, creating value for money. Below is an example of our collaborative approach which provided the opportunity for the client to stay engage and have achieve a great outcome.
The client was referred by the Sovereign Debt Team. The client had nearly £15,000 of debt, including £3,000 of rent arrears which had reached the NOSP stage, and £8000 of debt to the local council. The client’s circumstances were difficult – sharing a home with an ex-partner, and an elderly family member who had become confined to bed. The client also had some learning difficulties which impacted their ability to deal with complex paperwork, and also had significant medical problems which resulted in hospitalisation while we were working with them.
We worked with the Sovereign team closely who understood the background to the situation. The worker also had the trust of the client and was able to support them through their first appointment. Without the presence of the Sovereign worker it was likely this client would not had had the confidence to engage with MAP or sustain involvement for long enough to reach a good financial outcome. MAP was able to share the client’s budget (which showed a deficit) with the Sovereign worker, providing an insight into the depth of financial hardship the client was experiencing.
As a result of the first appointment the MAP adviser was able to identify that this was a suitable case for a Debt Relief Order. In addition, the housing situation was becoming precarious due to the NOSP, and an agreement needed to be negotiated. The Sovereign worker was able to provide practical assistance with getting an arrangement in place based on the amount suggested by MAP’s adviser. This was accepted, stabilising the situation.
Meanwhile the long process of gathering accurate information to apply for a Debt Relief Order began. While the MAP adviser obtained credit reports and checked the detail of each debt, the Sovereign worker provided invaluable support by helping the client to locate or obtain the papers needed, including bank statements, and attended at the client’s home to take photos of relevant paperwork to send over to the adviser.
In total there have been 34 communications between the Sovereign worker and the MAP adviser so far – mostly by email but also calls and conference calls with the client present. It is unlikely that a client working in isolation would have been able to sustain this level of commitment to the process of applying for a Debt Relief order and would have been overwhelmed by the requirements to provide such a vast amount of detail.
As the preparation of the DRO was nearing conclusion the client was admitted to hospital. Without the Sovereign worker to communicate the case would likely have stalled at this point, but with their input the adviser was able to carry on, and a three-way conference call has now been arranged to finalise the application.
A DRO is now ready to be submitted which will relieve the client of £15,000 of debt which is unaffordable. The rent situation has been managed and the home is more secure.
