The UK government is revising the rules for debt letters — those nasty surprises that arrive in the mail to inform you that you are behind in your payments for something or other — rent, for example. Currently they tend to be written in legalistic English that no one uses from day to day, and often printed in angry capital letters.
Existing law and COVID-19 means that debt letters have had to be sent to many more people than usual if they failed to make a mortgage payment, pay rent, local taxes, or utility bills. Companies that are owed money are required to inform the person responsible for the payment. Regulations also specify the form that the notice will take. Hence the language and the capital letters.
Clearly these letters need to get with the times. Plain language will suffice, thank you very much. And as “everyone” knows, capitals in emails means the sender is yelling at the recipient. When people have been verbally assured by authorities such as governments that it is okay to postpone payment, the distress at the receiving end is significant. In the current view of the government, the writers need to be required to show some kindness. Read more about this in the The Guardian: Lenders told not to send out ‘thuggish’ debt letters under new rules
How delightful can a government be that is trying to ensure more kindness? Not as delightful as you might think.
In New Zealand, government pretensions to kindness are wearing thin. Auckland Action Against Poverty (AAAP) is taking their Prime Minister to task for leading a government based on kindness. As AAAP member Brooke Stanley Pao says in her article in The SPINOFF: You can’t eat kindness
The UK government might also take note of the recommendations from organizations that are helping many people who are homeless and do not have the income to pay for housing in the private market. AAAP as well as groups in the US, Canada and the UK groups are critical of current housing “solutions” that push households with insufficient income into units they can’t afford. Although it may be done in a polite way, it isn’t kind at all. A kind move by government would be to come up with the funding to build the housing that people can actually afford. For example, try: United Kingdom Civic Housebuilding – History Shows How To Build
