StepChange debt advice demand up 11% year on year

StepChange, a debt advice charity, reported that 16,046 clients sought debt advice in April 2024, 11% higher than the 14,512 clients in April 2023¹. The figures come from its monthly client data report for April 2024, which covers the demographic and debt information of new clients who first received debt advice that month¹.

The monthly comparison sits within a longer rise in demand. Across the UK, StepChange recorded 183,403 new clients in 2023, up from 167,351 in 2022, and between 2022 and 2023 it provided full debt advice to 16,000 more clients, an increase of 10% year on year². Citizens Advice data for England and Wales shows debt advice given to 35,475 clients in January 2022, 43,963 in January 2023 and a record 48,482 in January 2024, before falling to 43,006 in June 2024². Citizens Advice Scotland figures do not show the same year-on-year increases: its numbers were highest in 2019/20, dropped during the pandemic, rose again in 2021/22 and have stayed around that level since, which the Scottish government review says may be partly due to capacity issues rather than no genuine increase in need².

The April 2024 report also gives arrears and benefit figures for clients. Three in ten (29%) clients responsible for paying electricity bills were in arrears with their payments in April 2024, three percentage points higher than the previous calendar month (26%), and over one in five (22%) clients responsible for gas bills were in arrears, two percentage points higher than March 2024 (20%)¹. The proportion of clients in receipt of Universal Credit was 41% in April 2024, two percentage points higher than March 2024 (39%) and six percentage points higher than April 2023 (35%)¹.

Amounts owed have also risen. StepChange data found UK clients had £14,654 of debt on average in 2023, up from an average of £11,000 in 2021, while average unsecured debts among Scottish StepChange clients rose from £12,730 in 2021 to £16,337 in 2023². Client average arrears are the highest of the past five years, increasing 30% between 2019 and 2023². The latest StepChange data shows one in three of its UK new clients (32%) had a deficit budget, up from 30% in 2022, and in Scotland this rose from 27% of clients in 2022 to 31% in 2023².

Not everyone who needs advice asks for it. FCA research cited in the Scottish government review found that only 21% of adults who felt heavily burdened by their debts and 29% of adults who had fallen behind on or missed paying bills sought help in the last year². The Money and Pensions Service debt need survey found that 39% of UK adults either need debt advice or are at risk of needing it soon, and 15%, equivalent to 8.1 million people, needed debt advice to avoid their situation worsening².

Why it matters for households

The figures describe who is arriving at debt advice services and what they owe, not what any individual household should do. For people already behind on bills, the April 2024 data shows arrears concentrated in energy: 29% of clients responsible for electricity bills and 22% of those responsible for gas bills were behind¹. A deficit budget, where income does not cover essential outgoings, affected 32% of StepChange's UK new clients and 31% of its Scottish clients in 2023². Average unsecured debts among the charity's clients were £14,654 across the UK in 2023 and £16,337 in Scotland².

The gap between need and take-up matters for household finances because debts that go unaddressed can grow through arrears and interest. The review notes that low income households in problem debt also borrow to repay existing debts, and that debt repayments take a greater share of income than for higher income households². It also cites a Citizens Advice report finding that 21% of people had borrowed to pay for essentials in the last six months². Free advice services are overstretched and dealing with increasingly complex cases with lower volunteer numbers, according to the review².

What happens next

StepChange publishes monthly client data reports, with the April 2024 edition the latest in that series at the time of publication¹. The Scottish government review was published on 20 December 2024². No further dated announcements are set out in the material available.

Households working out what they can afford to repay can use the Standard Financial Statement and Common Financial Tool, and the debt hub covers the wider options.