The Treasury has today announced an extra £37.8 million of funding[1] to provide essential debt advice services and help more people who are struggling with their finances due to coronavirus (Covid-19).
The distribution of the funding across England will be overseen by The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) and will come from a combination of sources: £20.6 million from Government, £14.2 million will be raised through a one-off increase to the debt advice levy and a further £3 million contribution from MaPS. For the Devolved Authorities, £2m (out of an additional £5.9m) will come from the Devolved Authorities’ debt advice levy.
The FCA is responsible for collecting funding amounts requested by Government for free-to-consumer debt advice provided by MaPS in England and by other financial bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We do this through the debt advice levy, which funds MaPS, and the Devolved Authorities’ debt advice levy.
Given our role as collection agent for these levies, we will consult on details in due course.