Some people love the New Year – the idea of a fresh start, a blank canvas, a reset. Others are less enthused – feeling it more as a sense of pressure, the risk of unmet aspirations, last year’s same old problems still hanging over their heads. In the world of household finances, these alternative mindsets can have a real influence on how people experiencing problem debt feel and act.
It’s unlikely that anyone experiencing problem debt feels bright eyed and bushy tailed about it – after all, it’s not a nice situation to be in. But as a leading debt advice provider, StepChange Debt Charity‘s goal is to help nudge people out of the negative feelings that can make it hard to get help, and to spread the word that whatever situation you are in, there are ways of improving it, that can help support your mental as well as your financial health. And January (or any time) is as good a time as any to make a start.
Read more:
- Millions of Brits are going without food and heating to improve their credit score
- I carried the weight of my £60,000 debt alone. Then one conversation changed everything
- I lived on a debt-stricken housing estate as an anthropologist – this is what I learned about poverty
We begin 2026 knowing that loads of people are feeling under the cosh financially. Research undertaken by Censuswide for us in December found that more than twice as many people in Great Britain expected their household finances to get worse rather than better in 2026. And four times as many people (42%) said that they worry more about money than they did a year ago than the proportion (10%) who said they worry less than they did a year ago. So, it’s very clear that if you’re struggling financially, you are very far from alone – an important fact to remember when debt can make you feel isolated.
Already, the first Monday of the year has seen StepChange advising more clients than on any single day last year. Over the first five working days of 2026, we advised over 21% more people than in the equivalent period of 2025. This is both bad news and good. On the one hand, it implies an ongoing rising tide of difficulty, but perhaps it also suggests an increased willingness and determination by people to take control of their situation and seek help. Everything we know about debt tells us that the sooner people get help, the sooner they begin the resolve their problems and the less entrenched those problems become.
And that’s one of the things that’s setting the tone for us in 2026 – trying to break down the stigma that can hold people back from getting the debt advice and solutions that they need. So, if you or someone you know might be wavering about getting help with their debt, please encourage them. It’s one New Year resolution worth its weight perhaps not in gold, but certainly in peace of mind.
