21.01.22

 "You're more like a social worker, aren't you? And more use." So says one of my clients this week, and it makes my day. To be honest, this week I've really felt like one - I've helped a client set up a bank account, called the pension service to make sure a panicked client's request for his pension to be paid fortnightly has gone through, and checked up on a couple of others to see if they've managed to set up their agreed council tax repayments and so on.

This is the sort of service that my clients (and many others) need. But unfortunately it's not what you can expect with most advice services. The reason I'm able to do this is that my organisation is free of the choking bureaucracy of the Money and Pensions Service, which expects advisers to see eight new clients a week and write each of them a tailored letter that can run to 40 or more pages. Try fitting in any casework around that without working well beyond your contracted hours. And if you're a client, try making sense of that wad of paper when what you actually want is someone to just let you know your options in the short, medium, and long-term, and then work with you put a plan into action.

Thankfully, debt advisers are a tenacious lot. Huge props to We Are Debt Advisers and the Unite Debt Advice Network for making sure advisers' voices are heard by the Money and Pensions Service and the supine leaderships of the organisations that depend on their money.