I’d like to start by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year! I hope that you all enjoyed the festivities and feel refreshed and rejuvenated for a successful 2018.
The first thing on the agenda for MALG this year is the first National Members Meeting which will be held at Bond Dickinson’s offices in London (SE1 2AU) on 25th January at 10.30am – 3pm. I look forward to seeing lots of new and existing members there for what promises to be a great start to the year of interactive meetings and discussions. There will also be the usual regulatory and MALG updates and an introduction to new representatives. We are delighted to be joined by David Marjoribanks, Policy & Research Manager at Relate; Zoe Alexander, Director of Strategy at NEST; Cliff Garland, Jair Munoz- Bugarin and Colin Kinloch of Money Advice Service. Discussions will include an investigation into debt and relationships, the Implications of the DWP Pension report & auto-enrolment, the MAS Debt Commissioning Strategy and the Economic Impact of Debt Advice Report (which will be launched by MAS on Thursday).
If you haven’t already registered to attend, please emaildionne.stocking@malg.org.uk as soon as possible.
Welcome to new MALG members
With the new year comes a good opportunity to welcome some of our new MALG members. I’m delighted to inform you that we have secured several new National Business Members over the past few months including Credit Kudos, Moto Novo Finance, Angel Advance and a new National Strategic Member, TIP IVA, who joined us towards the end of 2017 and into early 2018. I have high hopes for the year and I’m looking forward to welcoming many more new faces as the year progresses.
If you are on our mailing list and not yet currently a member of MALG, or you know any organisations that may be interested in joining, please get in touch asap to join and be able to access the full range of member benefits including attendance at our upcoming members’ meeting, access to our active regional groups across the UK, and use of our logo on your website and printed materials.
Utility Week Consumer Debt Conference – MALG member discount
As part of our ongoing efforts to develop our relationships with the utilities sector, we are supporting the Utility Week Consumer Debt Conference on 27 February 2018 at Birmingham Conference & Events Centre .and have secured a 15% discount for MALG members, using the discount code MALG15.
MALG Conference 2018
Following the success of the MALG 2017 conference in November, we are already in the planning stages for this year’s event. As a not for profit we rely on sponsors and exhibitors to make this must-attend event happen for the free advice sector and ensure that sponsors and exhibitors get maximum exposure from their involvement. Those interested in being the first to find out about early bird offers on sponsorship and exhibition packages, can register their interest on our website.
MALG Pension & Debt Report
Finally, I would like to remind members to comment on the Debt & Pensions – Bridging the Advice Gap report we launched last year to support the ongoing development of future versions.