Our appeal to Caroline Siarkiewizc, Chief Executive of the Money and Pensions Service

We have today been told that the Money and Pensions Service are intent on working towards a final decision on the bids received through their recent procurement exercise by January 2022. This indicates an unwillingness to suspend the procurement exercise, despite the overwhelming cuts to community based debt advice services that will result. Today, we heard of advice agencies on the brink of closure. In view of this, we have sent an urgent appeal to the Chief Executive in the following terms:

“We understand that MaPS has today written to all bidders advising them that you are now working towards a timeline to announce the outcome of the tender process in mid-January 2022. This is around a month later than initially planned.

We are writing to alert you to the hugely damaging impact of the current procurement exercise on debt advice provision and to ask that you now extend the current grant contracts in order to avoid a complete breakdown of community based supply this winter.  We are sure that you will be acutely aware of the financial hardship that many in this country are already facing. 

Contracts now need to be extended for a considerable period, not only to cover any additional month of decision-making on your part.  Even if you press ahead with your procurement plans, there is no chance whatever of new provision being put into place by 1st April 2022.  But the problem is not restricted to that delay alone.  Problems in supply are already apparent because of the misguided approach taken to this commissioning exercise. 

We have heard today that several advice agencies are on the brink of closure.  Having fallen out of bidders supply chains they have been attempting to obtain other funding.  But they have not been successful.  In other agencies, debt advisers are already leaving for other jobs.  Some agencies are having to offer bonuses for people to stay until the end of March 2022.  Debt advisers have been let down with a lack of clarity regarding TUPE obligations, but also recognise that even where TUPE applies the jobs on offer will be at one or two ‘hubs’ many miles away, and will be on lower pay.  Many advisers had, as we pointed out, already left due to the “insane bureaucracy” of DAPA.

On 17th November MaPS asked for information about why it was that these agencies did not bid or were not included in supply chains.  We asked that you commit to analysing their responses and publishing this.  You still haven’t made any such commitment.  But the reality is we all now why you won’t do this, because it will show clearly that your approach to procurement made it inevitable that they wouldn’t.  The shift from grants to commercial contracts (without consultation); the reduction from five to three regional lots (without consultation), the lack of a defined quality assurance framework (and with no statement as to how you will consult to shape this), and the reduction in funding (which you still do not have the bravery to be transparent about) are the main factors.

Debt advice provision is now in crisis, and MaPS is proceeding with what amounts to an act of vandalism.  Having not originally consulted about its commissioning strategy it now appears simply too stubborn to change tack regardless of the damage that is being caused.

We urge you, not only to answer our questions provided to you earlier (which may bring a semblance of transparency back) but to extend the existing contracts for an 18 month period to allow a full and proper consultation to take place concerning both the future shape of debt advice and its commissioning processes.  Anything else will now be hugely damaging to the growing number of people desperately in need of community based debt advice.”