01.04.22

The fact it's been snowing on the day energy prices shoot up by 54% really is a bit much – and every advisor I know is struggling with what to say to clients for whom there is no real answer to the question 'How do I afford this?'. However much we try to say to ourselves that our job isn't to 'rescue' people, we are in this profession because we want to help. And when we can't, it really takes an emotional toll – not to mention the toll on clients who have taken the often difficult step of asking for help only to discover how limited that sometimes is.

But it's not been a bad week. We get a couple of good wins for clients, which is a much-needed morale boost, and gives those clients a bit of breathing room.

All that remains is to cross our fingers that the government – and priority creditors like energy companies, landlords, and councils – take this crisis seriously. For the government, it's clear that much, much more action is needed to protect people (and if government's not for that, what is it for?). For creditors, it's recognising that if someone can't pay you, it's even more likely than usual that trying to enforce the debt through bailiffs, evictions, or prepayment meter installation is simply lumping further misery onto people.

We can but hope.