Jump in household indebtedness

Based on the Financial Conduct Authority’s Financial Lives survey, it calculates 12.8 million adults in the UK are now falling behind on bills or finding their repayments a heavy burden – up from the 9.6 million recorded in May last year.  

A big driver of this is the lack of suitable options to reset finances, meaning people in debt are weighed down for years, forced to go without essentials and vulnerable to exploitative companies unsuitable paying “solutions”.  

This build up of unpayable debt will, according to the charity, act as a drag on the economy unless the government recognise the severity of the household debt crisis and moves decisively to ease the burden. 

Debt Justice executive director Heidi Chow said: “The government is turning a blind eye to the colossal household debt crisis that is engulfing millions of people at breakneck speed. Instead of ignoring the problem they need to raise incomes, boost the protections for people in arrears and write off the unpayable debts to give everyone that needs it a fresh start.”