CfRC report finds MaPS debt need estimate excludes 5 million people

The Centre for Responsible Credit (CfRC) published a report on 3 December 2024 concluding that the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) approach to estimating the number of people in need of debt advice is "overly restrictive"¹. The report is a secondary analysis of the MaPS Debt Need Survey for 2023¹.

MaPS changed the way it estimated the number of people in need of debt advice in 2021¹. The CfRC analysis states that the current method excludes 5 million people who, in its assessment, clearly have a need for advice¹. It adds that the approach is restrictive enough to exclude a third of people who are receiving debt advice from the definition of needing it¹.

The report does not set out a revised estimate of the total number of people in need of debt advice, and no figure for that total appears in the published summary¹. MaPS has not responded to the report in the material published on 3 December 2024, and no response from MaPS has been reported¹.

The CfRC describes itself as having led campaigns for caps on the costs that payday lenders and rent-to-own firms can charge, which it says has saved borrowers an estimated £150 million per year since 2015¹. It also states that it has recently supported the We are Debt Advisers campaign from its own revenues¹.

Why it matters for households

The number of people MaPS counts as needing debt advice feeds into how debt advice is planned and funded across the UK. If the CfRC analysis is right, the official estimate understates the population that services are built around, and the gap it identifies is 5 million people¹. The report also says the definition leaves out a third of people already receiving debt advice, meaning some households in the system are not counted as needing it¹.

The practical effect for a household depends on decisions taken by others, not on the report itself. Nothing in the published material changes who is eligible for debt advice, how advice is accessed, or what it costs a household. No change to MaPS methodology, funding or eligibility has been announced alongside the report¹.

What happens next

No next steps are set out in the published material. The report was published on 3 December 2024 and is available to download¹. No date has been given for any response from MaPS, and no review or consultation on the methodology has been reported¹.