Prior to taking over the regulation of consumer credit in April 2014 we undertook extensive work to understand this market. The results of this indicated that debt management was one of the highest risk activities. We wanted to improve the outcomes for customers and therefore began thematic work which assessed the quality of advice provided by debt management firms.
In September 2014, our other supervisory work in the debt management sector demonstrated significant non-compliance with our consumer credit rules. Following a series of targeted visits to firms, we advised that many debt management firms needed to ‘raise their game’.
Our thematic review assesses the level of compliance with our existing rules – most of which are based on the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) former Debt Management Guidance. It does not establish any new standards or expectations.
http://www.fca.org.uk/your-fca/documents/thematic-reviews/tr15-8
It is very good to see that the 'free' services offered were substantially better than the fee charging ones.
It is only 40 pages long and is quite easy to read.