On Wednesday 9 March, Arum and Just. the enforcement market integrator, held an exclusive event at the House of Commons, hosted by The Baroness Meacher.
The event brought together representatives from Central and Local Government to discuss the current affordability crisis and how to ensure fair outcomes for citizens, departments, and local authorities through Crown Commercial Service's (CCS) Debt Resolution Services (DRS) framework.
Dr Jennifer Smith, Associate Professor of Economics at Warwick University, highlighted during the evening the key contributing factors to the crisis including the rise in gas prices, which has driven the average price of petrol at UK pumps up by around 50% since June last year, and will also see a predicted 20% of households in fuel stress during 2022 (defined as spending at least 10% of income on energy bills). Coupled with the rise in inflation (expected to reach a peak of 8% in autumn), people’s real income will fall in a way that is characteristic of a severe recession.
Andrew Pritchard, Arum Group CEO, commented on the event, “It’s clear that we are facing an extreme domestic crisis in the UK and it’s not only affecting those who are already financially vulnerable, but also a whole new section of society as well. Arum’s and Just’s inclusion as trusted suppliers on the DRS framework means that we can provide advisory and practitioner support and enforcement services for debt resolution, ensuring value for money for our public sector clients, and fair outcomes for citizens. We’ve helped many Central Government departments and Local Authorities over the past two decades and we look forward to working with many more.”
Arum is a supplier on Crown Commercial Service's (CCS) Debt Resolution Services (DRS) framework to provide Fraud, Error and Debt (FED) Advisory services, and Just to provide Enforcement Services and Managed Enforcement Services. The landmark DRS framework will provide access to the best solutions and suppliers from the private sector, ensuring fair outcomes for consumers and departments alike, and driving strong social value.
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2020/21 CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £2.04 billion - supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers.
Notes to editors
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is an Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office, supporting the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services.
To find out more about CCS, visit: www.crowncommercial.gov.uk
Follow CCS on Twitter: @gov_procurement
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/2827044
About Arum
Arum has been helping organisations resolve problem debt for more than 23 years across 20 global territories. We provide clients (including DWP, Lloyds Banking Group, Barnsley Council, to Westpac in Australia, Butterfield Bank in the Americas, and Hoist across mainland Europe) with independent advice and practitioner support across collections and revenue.
Whether choosing or implementing collections technology, navigating digital business transformation, or improving customer treatments to achieve better outcomes, Arum experts are trusted by leading brands across public sector organisations, financial services (banking, lending, debt purchase), utilities, and telecommunications companies.
The Arum mission is simple: to deliver independent collections and revenue solutions globally. This is achieved by improving regulatory, credit risk and portfolio performance, whilst maximising returns on clients’ technology investments.
Within the public sector, Arum aims to build better outcomes for citizens by improving the collection of local and central government revenues that fund public services. What’s more, the majority of Arum’s team of experts started their careers in government and financial services roles.
Arum provides a blend of practitioner-led consulting and end-to-end change and programme delivery services. Our knowledge of the creditor and software landscape is unrivalled and includes 30+ system vendors such as CGI, Equifax, Experian, Exus, C&R Software/FICO, Pega, Qualco and Tietoevry.
We’re collections and revenue experts and work collaboratively with our clients to prevent and resolve problem debt.
Arum media contact
Hannah Woodward, Head of Marketing, Brand and Communications