It is a privilege to be able to speak to you today on such an important topic.
Financial distress is one of the principle causes of social detriment. Archbishop Justin has emphasised that helping alleviate financial distress should be central to the Church’s mission.
A few statistics to remind us why:
the debt of the average UK household, excluding mortgages, is now almost £13,000
7 million people are using high cost credit providers
1m payday loans are taken out each month
1.4 m people have no bank account
These statistics are in themselves justification for action, but for me, even more concerning is encountering the impact of financial distress at the personal level.