Reports & Events

This report provides an assessment of the social benefits that have been created by Fair for You: a Community Interest Company providing affordable credit to families with incomes in the lower half of the income distribution throughout the UK.

September 1, 2020

20

 min read

We need urgent action to address Britain’s household debt crisis. Even before the Covid‑19 pandemic 7.2 million people (fourteen percent of the population) were heavily burdened by debt.

March 1, 2021

5

 min read

In October 2019, we were commissioned by The Commonwealth to review international approaches to deal with rising household debt. This led to a discussion paper which we presented to Commonwealth Central Bankers at the IMF/World Bank event in Washington DC.

October 29, 2019

40

 min read

The pandemic's impacts have been extremely unequal. And there are implications for the way we should assess credit risk. In a briefing paper for the University of Birmingham's Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management ('CHASM'), we call for credit scoring systems to incorporate social justice considerations.

September 1, 2020

20

 min read

In 2012 we undertook a study tour to Japan and investigated the impact of their measures to cap the cost of credit and prevent irresponsible lending. Our report highlights the positive effects of these measures, and drew out the implications for the UK.

November 1, 2012

40

 min read

In 2016 we were jointly commissioned by UNISON and the TUC to undertake an analysis of over-indebtedness in Britain. The report highlighted how traditional measures of the debt burden understated this because they fail to take account of rising living costs. We construct a new measure based not on gross incomes but on the level of interest payments relative to the available surplus of income over non debt related expenditure. We call for this measure to be used to guide future policy interventions.

June 1, 2016

60

 min read

In 2008, as the financial crisis hit, our Executive Director, Damon Gibbons, teamed up with Ian McCartney MP to write a briefing focused on the need to protect low income borrowers. The report coined the term 'credit dependency', to describe the relationship with high cost legal lenders, and called for caps on the cost of credit, greater focus on affordable lending, and action to tackle illegal lenders.

December 5, 2008

45

 min read

The Financial Conduct Authority is in the final stages of consulting on its proposals for a new Consumer Duty, which focuses on ensuring improved outcomes for users of financial services and products. In this briefing we consider how the proposed duty could help to address long-standing problems associated with ‘relending’ in the UK’s consumer credit markets.

February 1, 2022

15

 min read

The Covid-19 pandemic posed a considerable risk to the community finance sector. To assist, Fair4All Finance's Covid-19 Resilience Fund provided £3.9 million of support to 31 community finance providers. Read our independent evaluation here.

February 4, 2022

60

 min read

CfRC and Debt Justice joint response to HM Treasury's proposals for the Statutory Debt Repayment Plan ('SDRP') calls for major revisions, including the incorporation of a mechanism to write down debts sold to debt collection agencies and for public scrutiny of the Standard Financial Statement 'trigger figures' used to determine how much debtors will need to pay back through the plans.

August 5, 2022

15

 min read

With the cost-of-living crisis deepening, we undertook an independent evaluation of Fair for You's Food Club and Shopping Card trials with Iceland Foods. The products provided households with small sum credit at low interest rates to households. The evaluation revealed that the trials improved financial well-being and diets, and we recommend that the products be rolled out at scale.

August 16, 2022

35

 min read

Over the past two years there has been increasing concern about levels of illegal lending. But estimates of its scale vary widely. This study involved secondary analysis of the FCA's Financial Lives Survey for 2020. The findings highlight that recent small-scale surveys indicating a significant rise in illegal lending are likely to be unreliable, and that over-indebtedness and previous, legal, high-cost credit use are dangerous drivers that need to be addressed.

September 14, 2023

25

 min read

With increasing numbers of council on the brink of declaring effective bankruptcy and increased Council Tax arrears, there is an urgent need to reform local government finance. In this briefing we set out our position and call for improvements in funding for councils, debt advice commissioning, and the Council Tax collection regime.

November 28, 2023

15

 min read

In 2021, the Money and Pensions Service ('MaPS') changed the way it estimated the number of people in need of debt advice. Undertaking secondary analysis of the MaPS 'Debt Need Survey' for 2023 we find its approach to be overly restrictive, excluding 5 million people who clearly have a need for advice. The MaPS approach is so restrictive that it even excludes a third of people who are receiving debt advice from its definition of needing this.

December 3, 2024

40

 min read

The Food Club is a highly innovative partnership between Fair for You and Iceland Foods, providing small sum, interest-free credit to a demographic that has been hit hard by the cost-of-living crisis. Our evaluation indicates it has been highly successful: reducing the use of interest bearing credit for essentials, and helping people stay on top of their household bills. And it has improved diets; stopped children from going hungry, and improved both physical and mental health in many cases.

December 9, 2024

40

 min read