Hello to all our Members, Associates, Supporters and Friends! January has passed us by in a flash and here we are well into February with some fantastic MALG milestones already under our belt. More to follow below on what we’ve been up to so far this year…
As you know, my aim for this year is to continue to engage with our members in fresh and innovative ways and, as always, I’m keen to have your thoughts and insights about the best way to do this. If you would like to sit down and discuss how you and your organisation would like to develop your relationship with MALG this year, please let me know. I have already had some very engaging conversations with several of our members, which has emphasised how vital your input is to ensure we can develop our approach to member engagement and continue to grow the organisation.
MALG National Members Meeting
Thank you to everyone who attended the MALG Members Meeting on the 7th of February, and thank you to Dentons LLP in London for being such wonderful hosts. We had some fantastic speakers including Rich Sullivan-Jones, Audit Manager of the National Audit Office, Evridiki Kaliakatsou from the Money Advice Trust, and Angela Crossley, Head of Insolvency Practitioner Regulation of the Insolvency Service. If you were unable to attend the meeting you can view the presentation slides here. The output from the breakout sessions will also be added shortly. The next National Members meeting will be taking place on the 11th of April, keep an eye on our website for further details and to book your place please email info@malg.org.uk
New Members
It gives me great pleasure to welcome two new MALG National Business members. Tully helps remove the stress of debts using an open banking powered app which lets people deal with their debts in a flexible, affordable and sustainable way. Welsh Water (Dwr Cymru) is a not-for-profit company which supplies drinking water and wastewater services to most of Wales and parts of western England. I hope you’ll join me in welcoming Tully and Welsh Water to the MALG family.
A word from National Strategic Member IncomeMax
IncomeMax are proud to announce that we have become National Strategic Members of MALG.
As a national social enterprise helping low income and vulnerable families to navigate the benefits system and maximise income, we’ve grown considerably over the last 10 years.
Our mission is to help families in the UK fully maximise their income, and we do this currently by providing friendly, professional and knowledgeable benefits and income maximisation advice over the telephone to customers referred to us by a range of partners.
BILLIONS of pounds of income goes unclaimed very year by families that could really do with this money, so we do everything we can to try and help our customers unlock that financial support.
In total, we’ve confirmed over £14 million of new income for customers since 2009. But that is just a snap shot. The actual total of new income received by customers we have advised is likely to be much, much higher.
The help we’ve had from partners to grow and advise more people has been overwhelming and we wouldn’t be where we are today without that support.
We really believe now is the perfect time for IncomeMax to become a National Strategic Member of MALG. Benefits are very rarely out of the headlines these days, with welfare cuts and the introduction of Universal Credit just two examples of a benefits system in crisis.
MALG has always been a tremendous advocate for welfare and income maximisation advice and with Universal Credit and other welfare changes becoming a cause of debt, we feel it is absolutely the right time to get involved on a deeper level, so that we can highlight benefits issues to the MALG network and, hopefully, find ways of solving issues together.
MALG South West group
The first South West group meeting took place on the 24th January and was hosted by Bournemouth Water (part of South West Water). The meeting was a huge success and I was delighted to see so many of your there, including some new faces! We had engaging discussions lead by Thomas Eyre of Nooli and LOQBOX and Gareth McNab of Nationwide Building Society. We also had an update session about the work of the FCA from Luke Tyrell. All presentations can be found here. Further meetings are set to be held in Exeter and Bath, keep an eye on our website, LinkedIn and Twitter feed for next meeting announcements.
If you are aware of any of your Regional organisations with a presence in the South West or know of any individuals who may wish to attend the launch or subsequent meetings, I’d love to hear from you. I have had a couple of kind offers of support to establish the new MALG South West Regional Committee but if you think it’s something you could be involved in please let me know by emailing info@malg org.uk
Latest news
- Financial Ombudsman Service: Dealing with debt: https://malg.org.uk/financial-ombudsman-service-dealing-with-debt/
- Bob’s Blog: Happy New Year! An exciting year ahead for MALG: https://malg.org.uk/bobs-blog-happy-new-year-an-exciting-year-ahead-for-malg/
- Citizens Advice publish research on bailiff complaints: https://malg.org.uk/citizens-advice-publish-research-on-bailiff-complaints/