Shame, overwhelm and fear can stop people seeking help with crippling debts, while paperwork and loss of confidence can push them out later. What can services do differently?

Millions of people who could benefit from debt advice are not getting it. StepChange estimates that 4.5 million people in the UK are in financial difficulty, but only 1.7 million accessed debt advice in the previous year.

Getting people to seek advice is certainly a big part of the problem. The next challenge is helping them stay engaged long enough for that advice to make a difference.

Research from the Money and Pensions Service has examined what gets in the way at both points. It maps the debt advice journey as a series of steps, from first falling behind to getting a solution. They identify shame, fear and competing pressures that can stop people seeking help but also the practical and emotional barriers that can cause them to disengage once the process has begun.  Their research finds that people “regularly move up and down the steps, making progress then falling back like snakes and ladders, or dropping out altogether before seeking advice.”  

The findings point to a wider challenge for the sector: making debt advice available is not enough if the way people enter and move through services does not take those barriers into account.

A debt pathway devised by Clean Slate, Stonewater and Community Money Advice (CMA) is now testing ways to tackle some of those barriers in practice. Drawing on the research and feedback from staff and clients, it combines clearer information before referral with financial support and peer Money Buddies to help people stay engaged.

Why people put off asking for help

Shame, overwhelm and fear of judgement all feature strongly in the MaPS research. Low financial confidence can make matters worse, while debt may be competing with problems that feel more urgent: paying the rent, putting food on the table, keeping the heating on or dealing with family and health pressures. Some people may not recognise their situation as problem debt at all. In the research, 52% of participants who met the criteria for problem debt did not realise they were in it.

Frontline staff at Clean Slate report seeing many of the same issues. When asked about the barriers they encounter, overwhelm, shame and embarrassment, low financial confidence and fears about what debt advice might mean were repeatedly ranked among the most significant. 

For Veronika, a tenant with Stonewater Housing, who later received debt support through Clean Slate and CMA, that fear was very real. “I was thinking, how are they gonna judge me?” she said. “It was embarrassing, and it was scary as well.”

The problem does not end with a referral

MaPS research suggests that agreeing to debt advice does not mean the barriers have disappeared. 

Low financial confidence can make appointments and unfamiliar debt options difficult to follow. Some people worry they will lose control of decisions or be pushed into a solution they do not fully understand. A Quids in! Money Coach who supports Stonewater tenants into debt advice hears the same worries:  “They will make me sell my stuff, I am giving up my freedom, I will be judged on my spending.” And the pressures that made debt hard to face in the first place, from food and rent to work, health and family, are still there.

The research also highlights the practical burden of gathering financial information. Finding statements, creditor letters and other documents can feel overwhelming, particularly for someone who has spent months avoiding their finances. This is where a partnership like the one between Clean Slate and CMA comes into its own, as a money coach can walk people through this ahead of formal debt advice.

What can services do differently?

The MaPS findings point towards a fairly simple principle: if services know where people are likely to disengage, support can be designed around those points rather than waiting for people to fall away.

That starts before debt advice begins. Journey maps can make the process less daunting by showing what will happen, what information will be needed and where decisions remain with the client. Money Health Checks can help people recognise financial difficulty earlier, including those who may not think of themselves as being “in debt”. And lived-experience stories can challenge stigma by showing that fear, shame and uncertainty are common, and that asking for help does not mean giving up control.

And once advice starts, practical preparation matters. Document checklists can make expectations clearer, but for some people information alone will not be enough. If unopened letters and missing statements are part of the problem, support may need to extend to finding and organising them.

Putting the ideas into practice

Clean Slate is applying several of these approaches through a Longleigh-funded service for Stonewater customers, working alongside Community Money Advice (CMA).

Over six weeks, Clean Slate uses a Money Health Check to identify financial pressures, then works with clients on benefits, income maximisation and reducing household costs. Where debt advice is needed, it makes a warm referral to CMA for free, regulated support, while continuing its own money guidance alongside it.

Part of that means giving people more information before they speak to a debt adviser. Through the Quids in! information service, clients can get a clearer idea of what debt advice involves, what will be expected of them and what support is available, reducing the need for staff to spend one-to-one time chasing missed appointments after people have already disengaged.

Clients can also receive optional support from a Money Buddy: a peer with lived experience who can help gather documents, send bank statements, prepare for appointments and provide reassurance between them. The idea is to intervene at the points where the process can become overwhelming, rather than waiting for someone to drop out.

For Veronika, staying with the process eventually changed how debt felt altogether. She described it as having carried something on her back and then, once debt-free, feeling “so light”. “I feel rich now,” she said. “Debt-free rich.”

Her experience underlines the wider lesson: engagement is not a single decision made at referral. People may need help feeling able to start, and different support to help them keep going.

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