2024 manifestos: How will the political parties’ offer support those experiencing problem debt?
By Sophie Morris, Public Affairs Advisor
With election day just a few weeks away, political parties have been launching their manifestos in a bid to win over voters. We look at what the key parties are offering to support those experiencing problem debt and reflect on our own asks for the next Government.
With the general election fast approaching, we recently launched our own manifesto briefing calling for all political parties to commit to four priorities — security for private tenants, statutory regulation of bailiffs, boosting household financial resilience and supporting the free debt advice sector — to best prevent problem debt and help the estimated four million people experiencing serious debt problems in the UK.
Exploding living costs, the pandemic and a housing emergency have resulted in 14.6 million (28% of UK adults) struggling to cope financially, a significant group the political parties should be focused on supporting.
So, what are the parties offering those struggling financially?
Disappointingly, the content of largest parties’ manifestos is thin for those struggling to cope financially, with not enough recognition of the impact of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis on households’ financial resilience, and no mention of the importance of supporting the free debt advice sector at a time so many need help to cope with financial difficulty.
Although frustrating considering the number of UK households affected, it is unsurprising considering the parties have focused their manifesto offers around fiscal policy and higher-level topics such as the economy and migration.
However, there are some welcome commitments made by the main parties that may lead to help for people worrying about making ends meet and experiencing problem debt.
A fairer private rented sector
Over the last year, we have been campaigning for a fairer private rented sector, coinciding with the Renters Reform Bill that contained provisions to abolish Section 21 and other measures to improve the private rented sector for tenants. However, that Bill ran out of time when the election was called.
We were therefore pleased to see Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats all commit to a creating a fairer private rental market for both tenants and landlords, including abolishing section 21 no-fault evictions — a key ask in StepChange’s manifesto briefing that should provide more stability and security for private tenants.
We will look forward to working with a new government to take forward reforms to end no fault evictions while ensuring renters struggling with financial difficulty are supported to sustain their tenancies wherever possible.
Supporting households to make ends meet and build financial resilience
We know that too many UK households are unable to keep up with basics like housing, utilities and groceries — almost one in three StepChange clients now have a negative budget after receiving debt advice.
We have been vocal about the need for the next Government to help rebuild the financial resilience of UK households by tackling the drivers of negative budgets. It is positive to see Labour commit to a new child poverty strategy and reviewing Universal Credit (UC) so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty.
Although these commitments are short on detail, they would be a much-needed opportunity to take urgent steps to prevent hardship and destitution and work over the next Parliament to increase the adequacy of support. Among a range of measures, StepChange has particularly highlighted the urgency of stopping unaffordable debt deductions from UC, which is a low-cost way of quickly increasing support to households.
The Liberal Democrats too pledged to take another look at UC, looking at annual increases in payments to ensure that support covers essentials, whilst the SNP committed to reducing the wait for the first payment of UC from five weeks to five days among a wider suite of social security reforms. Both the Liberal Democrats and SNP made a welcome commitment to abolish the two-child limit.
The Conservative manifesto focuses on support around the growing number of people struggling with long-term health conditions and disabilities. It also includes a sensible commitment to look at how the Child Maintenance Service can better support victims of domestic or economic abuse, building on recommendations from Dr Samantha Callan’s 2023 Independent Review.
With energy bills projected to stay high, we are also encouraged to see both the Liberal Democrats and the SNP pledge to introduce a statutory social tariff for energy, which would be a significant step to tackle a driver of unaffordable costs for many households.
Alongside reducing essential costs, we have been vocal about the need for the next Government to help rebuild the financial resilience of UK households and have called for a national financial inclusion strategy — this would include, for example, measures to support households to build emergency savings and extend access to credit alternatives. We were pleased to see a financial inclusion strategy included in the Liberal Democrats manifesto and will be making the case for a strategy to whichever government comes to power.
Labour made a previous commitment to a financial inclusion strategy and regulation of BNPL in a recent policy statement. While it is disappointing not to see that commitment follow through to the manifesto, we would hope to see those measures become policy in a Labour government.
Statutory regulation for bailiffs
We have long been campaigning for the introduction of a statutory regulator for bailiffs, and we have recently had good engagement within Parliament on this issue and have seen growing support for the creation of the new Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB), the body set up to provide oversight of the bailiff sector.
It was therefore disappointing to see no mention of bailiff regulation in any of the key parties’ manifestos, despite hundreds of thousands of people receiving doorstep visits by enforcement agents every year and three in four of those visited reporting that bailiff conduct negatively impacted their mental health.
We are looking forward to engaging with the next Justice Secretary on this issue to ensure people are protected from unfair and intimidating bailiff action through statutory regulation of the enforcement sector.
Looking towards the new Government
Manifestos provide only part of the picture of the policy agenda the next Government will take on over the course of the next Parliament. We look forward to working with the new Government to ensure that the voice of those struggling with problem debt is properly represented within policy making so we can tackle the problems in the debt landscape head on.
To find out more about StepChange’s asks for the next Government, you can read our full manifesto document here.
