Charities Call for Scottish Government to Stop Collecting Public Debt

Wednesday February 22 2023

A group of Scottish anti-poverty charities has called on the Scottish Government to stop collecting debt and arrears to public bodies for six months.

In a letter to Deputy First Minister John Swinney, nearly 50 charity heads and academics say that struggling households are not receiving the full benefit of cost of living support, as money is deducted from their benefits to recover debts. These debts include council tax arrears, Universal Credit advance payments, water charges and local authority service charges.

They warn that many households are trapped in a ‘cycle of debt’, as the deductions mean they cannot afford to pay the bills or buy essentials.

The charities – which include Christians Against Poverty, Aberlour, Oxfam, Shelter, Barnardo’s and Save the Children – ask Mr Swinney to impose a six-month moratorium on the collection of public debt in the upcoming Budget (Scotland) Bill, which, they say, would ‘give households breathing space and allow for reassessment of ability to repay debt and arrears’.

The letter states: “We welcome the action the Scottish Government has already taken to help low income families this year. The increase and full roll out of the Scottish Child Payment has made a huge difference to families across Scotland. But as our evidence has shown for those families weighed down by debt to public bodies the payment is being swallowed up and is not having the intended impact. In effect what we are seeing is Scotland’s poorest families receiving help with one hand that is being taken away by the other.”

Read the full letter here.

Comments

Linda Walker - Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023

“It seems that this letter was sent on the day that the budget was voted on? Is that not too late for it to be taken into consideration? What has been the response, if any?”

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