The Bill Sargent Trust
The Bill Sargent Trust carries out research on issues relating to poverty and homelessness. It aims to influence policy at both the local level and wider.
In November 2006 it published The Impact of Credit on the Financially Excluded. Click here for further details on the report and downloads
This report, commissioned from WM Enterprise Consultants, evaluated the impact on the lives of people who had received loans from local agencies in Portsmouth. The research aims to inform the practice of local lending organisations as well as feed into wider policy debate about the value and benefit of community based lending.
The research used the existing customer bases of South Coast Money Line and Portsmouth Savers Credit Union to gather information around the circumstances which led them to seek help and the impact on their lives as a result of the support received. Another area of the research focused on the impact of borrowing from home credit companies.
The findings highlighted the wide ranging benefits of community based lending and the need to further promote this as an alternative to doorstep lending. It also highlighted the need for effective referral protocols between local agencies providing different services to people who are financially excluded.
Contact:
Andrew Mason,
Bill Sargent Trust
Peninsular House
Wharf Road
Portsmouth
PO2 8HB
Tel: 
023 9289 6817
Email: andrew.mason@phagroup.org.uk
