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What is StepChange Debt Charity?

The UK’s largest debt charity, in plain terms: what it does, how to contact it directly, and what else exists if it is not the right fit.

Written by The My Debt Cleared editorial teamLast reviewed 30 August 2026Jurisdiction United KingdomEditorial policy
My Debt Cleared is not affiliated with StepChange Debt Charity. This page provides factual information about StepChange and other debt-help routes so you can find the support you are looking for. StepChange offers free, impartial, FCA-regulated debt advice by phone and online, and can set up and run solutions — DMPs, IVAs and DROs — itself. Contact it directly on 0800 138 1111 or at stepchange.org; the charity’s own website is the only authoritative source for its contact details and hours.

Visit StepChange’s official website → Not sure StepChange is the right fit? Where to get debt advice covers the whole landscape.

What does StepChange do?

Free debt advice based on a full assessment of your income, spending and debts, then practical help for as long as needed: budgeting support, a Debt Management Plan run by the charity at no cost, IVAs through its own licensed insolvency practice, Debt Relief Order applications as an approved intermediary, and guidance toward bankruptcy or Scottish solutions where they fit. It helps several hundred thousand people a year. It is authorised and regulated by the FCA (FRN 729047) and is a registered charity in England and Wales and Scotland.

Is StepChange free?

Yes. Advice and its DMP service are free to the person being helped; the charity is funded by contributions from creditors and by donations. An IVA through its insolvency arm carries fees within the arrangement, as every IVA does — how IVA fees work applies to theirs too.

How to contact StepChange

Its debt advice helpline is 0800 138 1111, free from landlines and mobiles. Its own contact page states opening hours of Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm, and notes that lines can be busy — it recommends starting online, where its advice service runs 24 hours a day. Verify hours on stepchange.org/contact-us; we check this page against it, but their site is the source, not ours.

StepChange online debt advice

Its online advice tool asks the same questions a phone session would, produces a personalised recommendation, and can be paused and resumed. For people who would rather not phone, it is the most complete written route to regulated advice in the UK.

Does StepChange offer IVAs and DMPs?

Both. Its DMP is free and run by the charity; its IVAs are provided through StepChange Voluntary Arrangements, its insolvency subsidiary, under the same 2025 Protocol framework as any other IP. It will only propose either after the full advice assessment, and it says so plainly.

Other free debt-advice organisations

National Debtline, Citizens Advice, PayPlan, Community Money Advice and Christians Against Poverty all provide free advice with different strengths — who does what sets them out, and MoneyHelper’s locator finds whichever fits you.

How My Debt Cleared is different

My Debt Cleared is an information and introduction service and is not a debt charity. We do not give advice; we explain what debts do next and what solutions involve, so you reach advice — StepChange’s or anyone else’s — organised. If you came here looking for StepChange itself, the link at the top of this page takes you there.

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