Catalogue description National Debtline Website

Please see information at Divisional level.

National Debtline is the national telephone helpline for people with debt problems in England, Scotland and Wales. The service was set up in 1987 (as the Housing Debtline service) in conjunction with Birmingham Settlement and the Money Advice Association; it was renamed in 1990. In march 2002 the service became involved in a pilot designed to measure the effectiveness of giving high-volume telephone and email advice; this pilot was a partnership between various government departments and private concerns and was commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The pilot finished in March 2003, and the Money Advice Trust took over responsibility for running National Debtline. The main government department which has provided funding is the DTI and its successors.

The Money Advice Trust (MAT) was formed in 1991 to increase the quality and availability of free, independent money advice in the UK to people with debt problems. It is a charity organisation which has received funding from a mixture of private sector donations and Government grants, including: Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), the Scottish Executive, and Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). MAT is responsible for the National Debtline and Business Debtline services.