PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
STANDARD FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR PEOPLE IN DEBT (13 March 2017)

That this House welcomes the launch of the new Standard Financial Statement (SFS) co­ordinated by the Money Advice Service to introduce a single framework for assessing people's financial situation when they are seeking debt advice; recognises that a common approach between creditors and debt advisers on recording income and expenditure should ensure a more efficient process, more consistent affordability assessments and ultimately better outcomes for people trying to resolve their debts; further welcomes the inclusion in the SFS of a new savings category to help people build financial resilience even as they deal with their problem debts; notes the Government's commitment to look at how the SFS can be used by public sector organisations; and, in view of Credit Awareness Week 2017, which runs from 27 to 31 March 2017, calls on Government departments, local authorities and other public sector creditors to adopt the SFS for in-house debt management and collections and for operations contracted out through the Government's Debt Market Integrator programme.

Sponsored by:
Yvonne Fovargue (Labour)