Derbyshire County Council team gets national recognition for work to stop loan sharks

A Derbyshire County Council team which works to support financially vulnerable residents has won national recognition for its work to protect people from loan sharks.

The Derbyshire County Council Financial Inclusion Team has become an official accredited partner of the England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT), known as Stop Loan Sharks.

The team delivers services such as the Derbyshire Discretionary Fund, Welfare Rights Service and Affordable Credit Project. The majority of residents who access these services are struggling financially and could be at risk of being targeted by loan sharks.

Becoming a Stop Loan Sharks partner means the team members have the contacts and knowledge to help affected residents as effectively as possible.

They have all previously taken part in specialist Stop Loan Sharks training to help them spot the signs that someone has borrowed from an illegal lender. More recently, they have been working closely with Stop Loan Sharks as part of the Affordable Credit Project to raise awareness of loan shark activity and local, safe lending options such as Credit Unions and CDFIs.

The team also delivers joint training with the Stop Loan Sharks team across Derbyshire.

Dave Benbow, head of the IMLT, said: “The Derbyshire County Council Financial Inclusion Team has supported the work of the IMLT for many years and we are delighted to be able to recognise and reward that support by giving them official partner accreditation.

“We are incredibly grateful for the work the team members do in the local communities to help those who are struggling financially and may be vulnerable to illegal lenders. They know how to make sure anyone who has been targeted gets the help and support they need. We look forward to continuing our work together and helping to make communities that little bit safer by stopping these criminals.”

Councillor Carol Hart, Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Communities, said: “We’re delighted to have become an accredited partner of Stop Loan Sharks, which is testament to the great work of our team and very well deserved.

“Our financial inclusion team works hard to help Derbyshire residents access safe lending options, rather than risky, high-cost borrowing and in fact over the past two years our affordable credit project has helped 330 people get support from local Credit Unions, Community Development Financial Institutions, local support services and charitable organisations.

“They’ve also attended in-person events and delivered online training in partnership with Stop Loan Sharks, resulting in 341 residents being provided with information and 523 professionals either spoken to about the project at an event or provided with training.”

Many illegal lenders are well known within communities and are often introduced to borrowers through friends or family members. They are unregulated and give loans with no paperwork, charging high interest rates. They do not carry out affordability checks, meaning they are often lending to people who cannot pay them back.

These borrowers do not have the protection of consumer law and this can impact their other finances – leaving them unable to pay rent or other priority bills. Loan sharks can resort to threats, intimidation and even violence if repayments are not made.

The IMLT is a national organisation that works to investigate and prosecute loan sharks and support borrowers.

In the past 20 years, the team has made over 860 arrests and secured 427 successful prosecutions, with illegal lenders locked up for more than 609 years. More than £91.6 million in illegal debt has been written off, and around 32,000 borrowers have been supported.

Anyone who has been affected by illegal money lending should call the Stop Loan Sharks 24/7 confidential helpline on 0300 555 2222 or access support online at www.stoploansharks.co.uk. Live Chat is available on the website from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

To find out more about access to credit in Derbyshire, visit www.derbyshire.gov.uk/savingsandcredit