Debt and the future of debt advice were themes explored at the Capitalise Debt conference held in London on 26 February 2016, organised by Toynbee Hall and the Capitalise Debt partnership. The partnership is funded by the Money Advice Service (MAS) and attracted money and legal advice workers from across the capital.
Alan Murdie, chairman of Nucleus held a workshop for the conference telling attendees that council tax debt is biggest debt problem of our time, with local taxation debt problems now over-taking credit cards as the number one area for enquiries.
The workshop included a new and original presentation ‘A Brief History of the Council Tax 1993-2016’ explaining how the situation has come about and how council tax has been transformed which was well received by the audience.
Other speakers included Caroline Sairkiewicz, Head of the UK Debt Advice Service for the Money Advice Service, Jahanara Hussein from the Hyde Group speaking on behavioural economics, Alex MacDermott from the Financial Conduct Authority speaking on preparing for FCA regulation, and Sim Ilyas, client service manager for Averture speaking on new developments on insolvency.