Household debt as a proportion of income is down significantly from its pre-crisis peak, from 160% in Q1 2008 to 140% in Q2 2018. However, despite this, the government recognises the importance of preventing people from falling into debt, and supporting individuals if they do.<\/p>
To prevent individuals getting into problem debt, the government is putting in measures to improve living standards, and making it easier to access help with financial matters. In particular, the National Living Wage has increased the earnings of the lowest paid full-time workers by over £2000 since 2016, and will rise up a further 4.9% in April 2019 - a £690 rise for a full-time worker.<\/p>
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The government is also setting up a new Single Financial Guidance Body, which will provide people with a single point of contact for help with all financial matters, and have a statutory responsibility to improve the public\u2019s financial capability.<\/p>
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However, the government recognises that, despite this action, some people can fall into problem debt. That is why the government is implementing a breathing space scheme \u2013 a sixty day period of protection for people in problem debt, to engage with debt advice and find a sustainable, long-lasting plan to solve their debt problems.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1091", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Bates"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Bates"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-11-27", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "HL11507"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-11-27T15:28:31.617Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "14"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Treasury"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Treasury"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-11-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Debts"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to provide for the reduction of rent arrears, council tax non-payments, and other debts incurred by individuals who have insufficient income to meet their essential outgoings.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2170", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Ouseley"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Ouseley"} ], "uin" : "HL11508"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }