Latest news

2nd July 2009

Money advice plus - we’ve had a makeover


In May 2009 we took a decision to rename our charity money advice plus. This wasn’t an easy decision because the Direct Debt Line name had served us well for nearly 15 years. But it was important to listen to staff, clients, our current and potential contract partners and others. Here’s what they said about the DDL brand:

· Too narrow a focus on debt
· Could be confused with fee-charging debt management/credit companies
· Other organisations have similar names
· Offputting to clients

We knew these were very good reasons to change. So we came up with a simple name that we believe more closely describes what we offer and one which better reflects our current advice services and future development plans. Our Chair, Jill Stevens says “We chose this name (money advice plus ) after talking to our staff, clients, contract partners, funders and stakeholders. We feel that the new name makes it clearer that we are not just concerned with helping people relieve immediate debt, but also want to help them guard against getting into financial difficulty in the future.Money advice is often about much more than debt – it’s about education, financial inclusion, information and more. By providing free-to-the-consumer money advice we are involved in all these areas of work and we think our new name reflects this.”We have worked with Firebrand, a local design company, to come up with a fresh and bright new identity. We are delighted with our new logo and brand image and we hope you like it too. Our thanks go to Michael Dale at Firebrand and to Mark Thomas at allpay whose print and design team have produced our new marketing materials in time for the launch of our new brand later in July.


Gail Biggerstaff8th April 2009

DDL welcomes Gail Biggerstaff as the charity’s new CEO. Gail was previously Group Head of Neighbourhood Investment at London & Quadrant Group, and brings 27 years of experience working in the social housing sector in a variety of roles.

Gail has been an active promoter of financial inclusion for low income households over the last five years. She was the lead officer for CHANGE, a  partnership of 10 housing associations operating across London which provided a range of funded services to tackle financial exclusion. This included support to open and use bank accounts, to access affordable loans, financial literacy and money advice.  

She says ’I am joining DDL at a very important point in its development. The current financial climate has increased the demand for an independent source of quality money and debt advice as people experience increasing financial difficulties.’

In her new role Gail will be actively developing the range of tailored advice services that are currently provided to housing associations, local councils and ALMOs, as well as a utility company. DDL will continue to offer its core service of money advice and debt counselling to referred clients. In addition it will offer money advice and budgeting plans for residents moving into new homes to help prevent debt problems from building up, as well as support for owner occupiers, leaseholders and equity sharers, plus financial awareness sessions for frontline staff.

DDL will be innovative by developing work in partnership with a range of other agencies, including other advice agencies and credit unions whose own services  may benefit from a link to a high quality money and debt advice service’.

For more information contact Gail Biggerstaff on  01323 635999

19th January 2009

DDL is 15 years old! DDL was established on 19th January 1994 as a partnership between the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and East Sussex County Council. We have helped 1,000s of people deal with £1,000,000s of debt over the past decade and a half and our rapid expansion over the last two years has seen the charity go from strength to strength.

 

1st January 2009

DDL has grown rapidly over the past three years and now employs ten members of staff. Building on a successful period of expansion within the social housing, DDL now seeks an energetic leader to develop our funding base and ensure DDL networks widely within the money advice and financial inclusion sector. Visit our careers page for more information


30th October 2008

DDL has been now been working with Registered Social Landlords for over two years. We have now signed up our seventh contracting landlord and produced a promotional document overviewing the benefits of working with DDL.


5th May 2008

DDL has been working with London & Quadrant and Hyde Housing Associations for only one year, but the financial benefits of providing money advice tenants are clear.

"Thanks to DDL's specialist knowledge of debt counselling many tenants who chose to engage with them were able to resolve their debt issues and sustain their tenancies," says Paul Gilbert - Head of Income Management at London & Quadrant, "We are confident that the cost of the DDL service has been recouped from the reduced arrears and prevented evictions resulting from their work."

In a recent report by Transact Hyde Housing Association noted that rent arrears had fallen by 10% in the area where DDL was providing a service. In fact only one eviction had taken place and now Hyde are looking for ways of sustaining the service in the long run.

You can find out more about contracting with DDL and our annual review contains more information about the services we offer. We have also produced a brochure for Registered Social Landlords.

9th January 2008

Following the recent expansion of the charity, DDL has been recruiting additional advisers and is now seeking the appointment of an Advice Work Supervisor and Operations Manager.

 

12th September 2007
Following our AGM at the first board meeting the following trustees were confirmed as appointed to the DDL board:
Name Background Role on DDL board
Jill Stevens Director of Consumer Affairs, Experian , Chair of Southern Water Trust Chair
Alan Jarvis Consultant and previous Director, Money Advice Trust Vice Chair
Jane Guy Training manager , Plymouth CAB ; Trustee of EDF Energy Trust , Trustee of Southern Water Trust and Secretary to the Money Advice Liaison Group Chair of governance sub Group
Brian Knott Human Resources Director CharityBank Chair of human resources sub group
Jim Fearnley Head of Research and Policy, Money Advice Trust Trustee
Claire Whyley Former Director of Consumer Futures, National Consumer Council Trustee

24th July 2007
At the DDL Annual General Meeting trustees and staff launched our latest Annual Review with details of plans to further expand our services over the coming three years. Of particular interest to Registered Social Landlords will be a range of case studies, highlighting our work with Hyde Housing Association.