[INSIGHTS]: MALG MENTAL HEALTH AND DEBT GUIDELINES

External Links:

https://malg.org.uk/resources/malg-mental-health-and-debt-guidelines/

https://malg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/MALG-Debt-and-Mental-Health-Guidelines-2015.pdf

Summary

The Good Practice Guidelines for helping consumers with mental health conditions and debt awareness is a comprehensive guide for creditors, advisers, and professionals working with consumers experiencing mental health conditions. The third edition of the guidelines provides a clearer focus on how to identify and provide appropriate support for individuals with mental health and financial difficulties.


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Key Points

  • Refer to the Good Practice Guidelines for helping consumers with mental health conditions and debt awareness.
  • Cover a wide range of topics, including staff training, referral mechanisms, and procedures when creditors outsource debts.
  • Provide guidance on how much evidence is needed, time to collect evidence of mental health, and how to deal with charging for evidence.
  • Recommend using a common financial tool and provide guidance on how to treat benefits when assessing disposable income.
  • Suggest when to consider ‘writing off’ debts and taking court action as a last resort.
  • Ensure successful social policy work to enable future clients to access free evidence from health professionals.
  • Adopt a common financial tool in April 2015.
  • Consider any guidance that is provided with the common financial tool in terms of the options available to a specific consumer.
  • Ensure clarity about the need for workers to recognize the limits of their competence and refer on to specialist colleagues or other agencies as appropriate.
  • Carry out training in sufficient depth and at the level or equivalent of Wiseradviser as already provided by the Money Advice Trust (MAT).
  • Take advantage of the one-day course offered by MAT in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland at no charge to advisers.
  • Amend MAT training to incorporate this latest edition of the guidelines.
See also  INSIGHTS ¦ Debt Collection Action Plan for Credit Unions

Key Guidance Take Aways

  • Creditors, advisers, and professionals working with consumers experiencing mental health conditions should refer to the Good Practice Guidelines for helping consumers with mental health conditions and debt awareness.
  • The guidelines cover a wide range of topics, including staff training, referral mechanisms, and procedures when creditors outsource debts.
  • The guidelines provide guidance on how much evidence is needed, time to collect evidence of mental health, and how to deal with charging for evidence.
  • The guidelines recommend using a common financial tool and provide guidance on how to treat benefits when assessing disposable income.
  • The guidelines suggest when to consider ‘writing off’ debts and taking court action as a last resort.
  • Ensure successful social policy work to enable future clients to access free evidence from health professionals.
  • Adopt a common financial tool in April 2015.
  • Consider any guidance that is provided with the common financial tool in terms of the options available to a specific consumer.
  • Ensure clarity about the need for workers to recognize the limits of their competence and refer on to specialist colleagues or other agencies as appropriate.
  • Carry out training in sufficient depth and at the level or equivalent of Wiseradviser as already provided by the Money Advice Trust (MAT).
  • Take advantage of the one-day course offered by MAT in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland at no charge to advisers.
  • Amend MAT training to incorporate this latest edition of the guidelines.mers where appropriate.

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