In 2018, the UK government launched a “debt restructuring” project that analyzed household income, debt, and employment indicators to proactively identify households at risk of default and connect them to debt relief. In Newcastle, where the project was implemented, five out of 10 households that received debt counseling escaped default, and their average monthly welfare income rose by 171 pounds (about 330,000 won).
The organization that screened defaulting households and tracked changes in income and arrears in this project was Policy in Practice, a UK social policy data analytics firm. Deven Ghelani, who founded the company, stressed in an interview with…