It’s official! PayPlan has been awarded ‘Debt Advice Provider of the Year’, at last night’s (14 December) Credit Strategy Credit Awards.

We beat off stiff competition from other well-respected industry debt advice providers and took the title at the annual ‘Oscars of the credit and financial services industry’, which celebrates the innovation, best practice and hard work of individuals and businesses across the sector.

Our CEO, Rachel Duffey, said: “Wow. I am absolutely thrilled we’ve won this award. It’s the perfect end to what’s been a challenging year and a wonderful way to celebrate the fantastic work each and every one of our team carry out on a daily basis.

“Our advisers do an amazing job dealing with situations which can often be challenging. Being in debt can affect people in many different ways and be triggered from a wide range of situations and underlying problems.

The judges were impressed with how given the increase in referrals during the pandemic, our models of callback tech integration, along with affordability assessments, have proved to be of real value to the client journey – with our gambling harms training being received very warmly across the debt advice sector.

“Throughout the past 12 months, our advisers have not only assisted people who have been financially affected by the pandemic, but also continued to provide an outstanding debt advice service – whilst living through and facing their own challenges throughout this unprecedented time.

“We were delighted to be named Debt Advice Provider of the Year at the Collections and Customer Service award last month, but to scoop the double at the Credit Awards is the icing on the cake.

“This award is for our team and dedicated to the amazing work they do to help people across the UK who are struggling with their finances.”

We were also finalists in the Business Continuity category for the way we continued to deliver an uninterrupted service throughout the lockdowns – and our brilliant Iona Murray who works with our creditor partners was shortlisted for Rising Star of the Year.