VWO adopts evidence-based practice for debt programme

SINGAPORE — At the end of a year-long pilot programme to help low-income families clear their debts, both clients and staff from family service centres run by the Methodist Welfare Services (MWS) felt good.

Total arrears of the families that were helped went down and their average net worth went up by nearly S$2,500.

This was in contrast to a control group of families that did not receive debt co-payments, whose arrears went up and whose average net worth increased by just over S$500.

But after running a test, the verdict was that there was not enough evidence to suggest that the programme had worked. This meant the results could have been by chance.

Mrs Cindy Ng-Tay, assistant director of MWS’ Covenant Family Service Centre, shared these findings yesterday at a conference to launch the Social Service Research Centre at the National University of Singapore.

It was the voluntary welfare organisation’s effort to move towards evidence-based practice, which the new centre hopes to foster.

The pilot programme ended last month and Mrs Ng-Tay said her team will be looking at some revisions before the programme’s second round, slated for after September.

In the first round, there were 34 families each who received debt co-payment and who did not. The first group had total arrears of about S$256,000 before the programme, and about S$175,000 after it ended.

The control group had total arrears of about S$276,000 before the programme, and about S$294,000 after it ended. The figures exclude that of two “outliers” which had over S$100,000 in arrears.

About half the families seen by MWS’ three family service centres face financial difficulties and current strategies of budgeting workshops, employment support and cash transfers have had limited impact on some, said Mrs Ng-Tay.

MWS decided to try alternative poverty-alleviation strategies and opted for matched payment of debt — the VWO would match every dollar of debt (incurred for at least four months) that the families chose to repay, up to a sum of S$100 per month.

The bulk of debts were for utilities, service and conservancy, rent, telco bills and furniture hire-purchase, she said.

MWS said 19 of the 34 families said the programme encouraged them to clear a portion of their debts and review their debt situation.

NEO CHAI CHIN