Financial capability and debt advice have developed as two largely distinct areas of focus. However, by providing these services together there are opportunities to improve how clients respond to debt advice and build their financial capability.
This report highlights the findings of research which tested different approaches to effective integrated advice delivery across channels at improving financial wellbeing through the debt advice journey.
After receiving advice from these services, people were:
- More likely to be keeping up with their bills and credit payments without difficulty
- More likely to have a plan to pay off their debts
- More likely to understand the steps they needed to take to pay off their debts.
The key to achieving these successes were:
- Delivering messages in manageable chunks that don’t overwhelm the customer
- Offering the service flexibly, responding to individual circumstances and support needs
- Supporting customers to engage with their creditors, and giving them the confidence to continue doing so in future.
Research was conducted by IFF Research on behalf of the Money and Pensions Service.