In response to the challenges created by the Coronavirus outbreak in 2020 in terms of both increased demand for debt advice and limitations on advice delivery and collaborative working, we rapidly launched the MALG Members Friday Forum as part of our unique position and duty to ensure that we can continue our joint aim of ‘working together to improve the lives of people in debt’. It proved to be very successful with up to 60 people on average attending via Zoom on a regular basis.
Thanks to the official sponsor of the MALG Members Friday Forum, PRA Group, it continued as a fortnightly event throughout 2021, 2022 and 2023 and we are pleased to announce it will do so in 2024!
The ‘drop in’ video conference held via Zoom every other Friday (see full list of dates below) between 10am and 11am, provides a virtual means for National and Regional MALG members, which include money advice agencies, creditors, debt collection agencies, enforcement agents, utilities companies, regulators, policy makers and others, to ask each other questions, share ideas and best practice, and provide updates on key legislative, regulatory and other changes that are currently happening.
The aim is to help to share the burden of navigating the post-Covid era and ever-evolving landscape and enable a more coherent and joined-up sector-wide approach to supporting customers over the coming months and years as the impact of the cost of living crisis is felt. In line with MALG’s ethos of non-judgemental free discussion, the sessions are not recorded and minutes are not taken. There is no need for MALG members to register in advance and participants are free to join and leave at any time during the hour-long slot.
The Institute of Money Advisers (IMA) has confirmed that attendance at the MALG Members Friday Forum is worth 1 CPD point.
*Following requests made during Friday Forum sessions, we collated and continue to maintain/update a list of creditor email addresses for advisers to use during the Coronavirus crisis here, and shared details of how advisers can obtain clients’ credit reports here. Other resources from each session are shared via the password-protected Zoom link and resources page linked to below.*
MALG Friday Forum Ambassadors
On 15 December, the last MALG Friday Forum of 2023, we announced five new Ambassadors and rewarded them for their commitment to attending over the last few years with this coveted new title and a free place at the MALG Conference 2024! They are:
- Sara Williams, Debt Camel
- Richard Holland, Salford City Council
- Alice Healy, Citizens Advice Cornwall
- Beth Banks, Angel Advance
- Lynn Crawford, Changing Lives
Joining instructions
If you are an existing MALG Member, you will receive the new password for 2024 via email, which can be used to access the Zoom link HERE. If you cannot find the password and want to request it to be re-sent, if you are not an existing MALG Member but would like to sample a Friday Forum session as a guest, or if you have any other questions or issues, please email info@malg.org.uk.
The MALG Members Friday Forum takes place via Zoom every other Friday at 10-11am. See upcoming dates below:
- 19 April 2024 (new password/zoom link)
- 3 May 2024
- 17 May 2024
- 31 May 2024
- 14 June 2024
- 28 June 2024
- 12 July 2024
- 26 July 2024
- 9 August 2024
- 23 August 2024
- 6 September 2024
- 20 September 2024
- 4 October 2024
- 18 October 2024
- 1 November 2024
- 15 November 2024
- 29 November 2024
- 13 December 2024
