Debt on Teeside: Pathways to Financial Inclusion

During 2011-13, Durham University’s Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, Thrive Teesside and Church Action on Poverty worked with low-income households experiencing high levels of debt in Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees. The project collected detailed financial information from 24 households, offered financial mentoring, ran campaigns on predatory lending and was influential in contributing to changes in policy and practice around predatory lending.

The project produced a range of outputs including a full report, a research briefing, which gives a short overview of the aims, findings and policy recommendations, a film and community mentoring toolkit. The project team continued to work on high-cost credit following the end of the project during 2014-15, with further policy and practice briefings designed to stimulate changes in law, policies and support services

For further information, contact: Sarah Banks, Durham University; Tracey Herrington, Thrive Teesside

Articles and book chapter

• Pathways to co-impact: action research and community organising. Educational Action Research, 2017
• 'Action research for social justice: researching and organising on issues of household debt' in Hardwick, L., Smith, R. and Worsley, A. (eds), Innovations in Social Work Research: Using Methods Creatively, London, Jessica Kingsley, 2015, pp. 18-39.
• 'In whose interest? The dynamics of debt in poor households' Article in Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, November 2013

Briefings and materials, 2014

• Money mentoring: a resource pack (September 2014, 19 pages)
• Report of 'Tackling the personal debt crisis in the North East' event (June 2014, 16 pages)
• 'Building financially resilient communities: The need for local action' policy briefing (June 2014, 2 pages)
• 'Money mentoring: Working with low-income households experiencing problematic debt' practice briefing (June 2014, 2 pages)

Final report, briefings and film, 2013

• Debt on Teesside: Pathways to Financial Inclusion (Final Report) (September 2013, 99 pages)
• Debt on Teesside: Pathways to Financial Inclusion (Research Briefing) (September 2013, 6 pages)
• Community Mentoring Toolkit: Working with socially excluded households (September 2013, 8 pages)
• 'Loadsadebt' film calling for better regulation of high-cost credit, (April 2013, 4 mins)

Conference presentations/reports

• 'In whose interest? The dynamics of debt in poor households', paper presented at Social Policy Association Conference, July 2012
• Debt on Teesside: Pathways to Financial Inclusion Newsletter, Nov. 2012
• Debt on Teesside: Pathways to Financial Inclusion - Presentation at 'In whose interest?' event, NE Child Poverty Commission, Durham, 15 February 2013
• Booklet of mentoring case studies, April 2013
• Inclusion: Lessons from Teesside households (Report of celebratory learning event) April 2013
• 'Payday lenders are out of time in their fight against credit cap', an article in The Conversation, October 2013
• Notes of Debt on Teesside Event, held on 21st October 2013, Queen's Campus, Stockton
• Tackling the Personal Debt Crisis in the North East (Event Report), 27th June 2014
• Credit Union Event (Brief Report), Durham, 19th June 2015