Seaside towns is one area where this is clearly a problem, but wherever there's insecurity (gig work, renting, even being part of the current social security system) there's debt.

Great Yarmouth residents experiencing high levels of debt issues A debt charity believes the town's seasonal job market is in part to blame.

More and more, insecurity and lack of capacity in the system is picked up by household debt. This is the slowly growing privatisation of our social security net - you can't rely on the government to support you through rough patches, the market steps in (and profits)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Grateful to everyone who worked on this (too many to name) but @helenundy.bsky.social @martinlewis.moneysavingexpert.com and others not on bsky from MMHPI and everyone at @debtjustice.bsky.social get special thanks!

We don't often get big wins, and in the grand scheme of things that are wrong with the world - we might mistake this for a small one. But it matters and I'm very proud to have played a part in it happening.

Today's announcement doesn't fix everything. Bailiff reform still hasn't happened, imprisonment is still on the statute book.

But longer notice periods, fairer billing, a pre-action protocol, a fee cap - these are real changes that will make a real impact for 4.4m people in council tax debt.

This isn't just because of the work of those two brilliant organisations, but also @moneyadvicetrust.bsky.social @stepchange.bsky.social @citizensadvice.bsky.social @aberlourcharity.bsky.social and many many others.

Since then, at @debtjustice.bsky.social, we've been plugging away through our Ban the Bailiffs campaign, showing the changes needed to address regressive council tax; and tackle the profiteering and immorality of the enforcement-first approach to council tax debt.

Then, a couple of years ago, the wonderful Francesca Smith and I wrote a paper for @moneyandmentalhealth.org showing 2m+ people with mental health problems had fallen into the 'council tax trap', where a single missed payment caused rapidly escalating debt, court summons, and bailiff visits.

A bit of context: council tax is still living in the shadow of the Poll Tax. The Major government introduced a council tax debt regime designed to be as punitive as possible: fast escalation, punishing fees, bailiffs, the threat of imprisonment.

It's barely changed in 30 years.

Council tax shake-up to protect the most vulnerable households More time for vulnerable people to pay their bill after missing one month’s payment

Big news today: the government is reforming the council tax debt system. For 4.4 million people in debt, this is genuinely going to make a difference. I'm absolutely buzzing about this after spending the last couple of years campaigning on this.

www.gov.uk/government/n...

It's a bit of a myth that rents are constantly increasing faster than earnings or overall inflation - on average, they're not.

So what *is* the problem of unaffordability in the private rented sector? And what does this mean for how we go about fixing it?

Our take 🧵⬇️

This time it's personal: the rise of dynamic, personalised pricing and what it means for inflation How personalised pricing is influencing inflation and shaping the future of price-setting for everyone.

The dodgy second hand car salesman comes to the digital age. What stage of capitalism is it where the competition is not between firm efficiencies, but just who can rip you off in the least obvious way?

bankofenglandinsights.substack.com/p/this-time-...

Households are at breaking point - and maybe will be being funnelled into the wrong bankruptcy options by flashy tiktok ads promising to sort their problems.

Desperately need the government to take some action on fairer write off mechanisms if more of us are going to rely on them.

Some of this is definitely explained by more people accessing DROs since the removal of the fee.

But also households are clearly struggling - this is a longer trend & the rise in IVAs again is particularly concerning.

bmmagazine.co.uk/in-business/...

Government to lift paywall from large parts of the Land Registry Exclusive: finding out who owns land will become simpler under plans to make the best use of green spaces and hit net zero targets

VICTORY! Government to open up the Land Registry - bringing to an end a thousand years of secrecy shrouding who owns England.

I’ve been campaigning for this for ten years: the new Land Use Framework, published later today, makes it government policy. 1/

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Also forever and always shocked that the guy from Clean Bandit is now the country's top economic advisor.

Life comes at you fast.

Reeves plans to give England’s regional leaders a share of national tax revenues Chancellor seeks ‘genuine break with the past’ in tackling centralised and ‘geographically unequal’ country

Yeah looks like big news! Anything that addresses the UK's uniquely centralised taxation system is cause for celebration.

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Contact your council: Ban the bailiffs! With local elections happening in hundreds of councils across the country this spring it’s time we told our local councillors that we want to see action on council tax debt and an end to bailiff use.

People are forced into debt because of our regressive council tax system - and then being harassed by bailiffs!

Local elections are coming up so I've demanded my councillors pledge to #BanTheBailiffs.

Write to your councillors: act.debtjustice.org.uk/contact-your...

High levels of debt on essential UK bills are the ‘new normal’, warn campaigners Average arrears for housing, utilities and council tax for low-income households all rose last year

Maybe it's just because ✨I work on it ✨ but the centrality of debt to everyday life is increasingly apparent, esp its role as a privatised security net.

The state won't provide sufficient wages, welfare, or protections; so you're forced to rely on debt instead.
www.theguardian.com/money/2026/m...

As they argue: wage stagnation, labour precarity, welfare retrenchment have all contributed to the centrality of household debt to the contemporary capitalist model.

"Borrowing is no longer an exceptional coping strategy but a normalised mechanism for maintaining consumption"

New research from Arnaud Natal and Isabelle Guérin estimate at least 33.3% of the world’s population (over 2.59 billion people) regularly rely on borrowing to make ends meet.

As they say - indebtedness is not marginal now but a structural part of modern capitalism. hal.science/hal-05547460...

Literally the only age group who wants to work more, it's such nonsense this is a generation of shirkers.

We made every part of life unaffordable, didn't increase wages for two decades and then let youth unemployment explode.

Why aren't the kids working?!?

Every time someone talks about how many under 25s are claiming incapacity benefit because they're lazy, this @pfrc-uob.bsky.social graphs needs to beamed directly into their eyes

CTS schemes maybe not the most exciting topic, but:

- Accounts for ~5% of income for poorest tenth
- The most underclaimed benefit in the country

Aligning with UC is good, but fundamentally just another sticking plaster.

Scrap CT, bring in a proportional property tax or land value tax.

Over 1,000 lives have already been lost since the US and Israel’s attack on #Iran. Alongside immense human suffering, the war is already having huge economic consequences that extend far beyond the region.

A 🧵 on the impacts, and what could happen to countries in debt if the situation continues

Good report from @stepchange.bsky.social & @genevi-eve.bsky.social

85% reported a negative financial impact, such as going without essentials. 48% experienced a negative impact on their credit record.

That survivors of domestic abuse in particular are skipping meals rather than damage their credit file is so perverse.

www.stepchange.org/policy-and-r...

Rising water bills see pensioners in poverty skip baths Water bills will go up again on April 1. Pensioners like Judith are already feeling the pinch, rationing showers and laundry loads.

The number of older people living in water poverty could rise from 750,000 to almost a million by 2029/30.

We need a national water social tariff to protect people on low incomes from soaring utility bills.

Read more about our campaign in @bigissue.com

www.bigissue.com/news/social-...