Huge thank you to Rachel who shared her personal experience with You and Yours too - not an easy thing to do but so powerful to hear.

Listen at 17.45 mins:

lnkd.in/ermYJFPv

I spoke to You and Yours yesterday about our report on debt collection by energy, water and telecoms firms. We found that people with Severe Mental Illnesses are 4 times as likely to be behind on utilities bills and twice as likely to be disconnected.

And honestly, while I'm feeling angry, a lot of the people will be feeling scared. Scared about what this means for whether they can pay their bills, their debts, feed their kids. The OBR impact assessment doesn't cover the psychological impact, if it did it wouldn't make for pleasant reading.

Here's a little blog from me on what's happened, and why it's a big deal: www.moneyandmentalhealth.org/were-going-t...

That's a full house on our amendments to the Bill - with the Minister committing to addressing all 3 in the code of practice or guidance. We'll be working closely on the next stages to make sure the change is delivered. Big thank you to Lord Davies of Brixton, & all the Peers who spoke in support.

One thing that stood out to me, is that around half of Cit A clients have a negative budget, with the average deficit around £15. I think firms often don't realise that just a few ££s a month extra on a bill can be the difference between building up more debt, or finding a route back out of it.

Just joined Bluesky! 👋🏼

It's the very bare bones of a list, but it's a start! Lovely to see you as always.

Thanks for having us! It was a great discussion. Hopefully the first of many.

As far as I can tell quite a few of the obvious contenders are not on this platform yet. Or I haven't found them. No slight intended to those not on the list!