Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken with credit reference agencies, lenders and the third sector towards improving how coerced debt is reflected.

Last year, the Government published a Financial Inclusion Strategy which includes economic abuse as a key theme across its areas of focus, in recognition of the particular challenges victim-survivors can face in accessing financial products and services.

The Strategy seeks to support victim-survivors to regain financial independence. This includes an intervention to improve the impact of economic abuse on victim-survivors’ credit scores and, through this, their ability to access products going forward. This work will develop appropriate options lenders should take when reporting data to Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs), depending on the victim-survivor’s circumstances, to minimise the negative impact on their credit files. The Government is continuing to work closely with CRAs, lenders, and consumer organisations as this work develops.

The Economic Secretary was also pleased to recently welcome Sam Smethers, CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse, a leading economic abuse charity, to the Financial Inclusion Committee. This Committee helped develop the Strategy and will support its delivery moving forward.