08 January 2025

Happy New Year!

The policy team at Money Advice Scotland would like to wish all our members a Happy New Year! We hope you were able to enjoy a well-deserved break over the festive period. As we look forward to the year ahead, we would also like to take a moment to reflect on the work we’ve done together over the past 12 months and share some of our plans for 2025.

Looking Back on 2024

The past year has been a busy and productive one for the policy team, and we’re proud of what we’ve been able to achieve with your input and support.

In 2024, we continued to bring the free advice sector together. We hosted an in-person event with StepChange and Citizens Advice Scotland, where we focused on strengthening and uniting the voice of the sector. This was followed by an online event where we discussed upcoming policy changes and their potential impact on the money and debt advice sector. These events have been invaluable in fostering dialogue, collaboration, and shared understanding across the sector.

We were also thrilled to host a hustings event last year, providing an opportunity for our members to engage directly with political parties. This event opened meaningful dialogue about the priorities of the free advice sector. With the Scottish Parliament elections on the horizon, we’re committed to building on this work and ensuring that the voices of advisers and clients are heard loud and clear.

Our quarterly policy forums have remained a cornerstone of how we engage with our members. These sessions have provided an open channel for discussion and feedback, helping to shape our policy work throughout the year. We’re looking forward to continuing these forums in 2025 and are always open to suggestions for topics or areas you’d like us to focus on.

Over the past 12 months, we’ve responded to several consultations that are crucial to the sector. We know how important these are to shaping the future of money and debt advice – it’s the primary way that we have our voices heard by policymakers and we’re committed to continuing this work in 2025. In the coming weeks, we’ll also be working to upload all our consultation responses to the website so that you can easily access and reference them.

Looking forward to 2025

As we step into the new year, we remain as committed as ever to representing the voice of the free advice sector and working closely with our members to achieve the best possible outcomes.

We’ll continue to engage with you through calls for views, discussion sessions, our basecamp forum and our policy forums. Your voices and perspectives are the basis of what we do, and they will guide our responses to consultations and contributions to working groups throughout the year.

We’re also committed to continuing our work with other organisations in the sector to ensure that the voice of the money and debt advice sector remains unified. We believe we’re stronger together, and collaboration will remain a key focus in 2025.

If there’s anything you think we could do better or areas you feel we aren’t focusing on enough, please don’t hesitate to let us know (you can email us at [email protected]).  We are here to support you, and your feedback helps us ensure we’re working in the right direction for you and your clients.

Thank you for all your support and input over the past year.