The MP leading a debt survey plagued by “frustrating” delays has resigned.

A controversial joint enterprise between Medway’s Citizens Advice Bureau and payday lender Wonga was formed in 2012 to analyse the extent of people’s debt in the Towns.

The conclusions of that investigation are still unknown 28 months on.
This week Chatham MP Tracey Crouch announced with “deep regret” her resignation as chairwoman of the inquiry panel.

She said: “I feel incredibly frustrated that this project, which started with excellent intentions, has been beset by delays. The data is now so out of date that it is worthless and in many respects irrelevant as the government has announced new policy to deal with high cost credit lending."

The project was launched in a blaze of publicity in 2012, and the Wonga connection attracted national newspaper attention and with Medway CAB chief executive Dan McDonald interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme.

It was meant to take six months but has taken four times longer, which is being blamed on the CAB’s growing workload.

Miss Crouch said this week: “I am disappointed that the report has not yet seen the light of day, not just because of my own interest in personal debt, but because of all the hard work that the volunteers put in to collate the data.”

In March, Mr McDonald said that CAB services were in more demand than ever and gave a publication deadline for the beginning of June.
In June, Mr McDonald said it was nearly ready, but later that month gave the earliest publication date of September.

More than 5,000 Medway residents were interviewed for the survey and questioned about their credit cards, store cards and short-term loans.
At that time, the average debt of the people coming through the CAB offices in Balmoral Road, Gillingham, was £43,000. One person had accumulated almost 70 credit cards.

Wonga agreed to provide technological and financial support for the survey. The company was then told it would have to pay £2.6m compensation to 45,000 customers after the Financial Conduct Authority found it had “sent letters to customers in arrears from non-existent law firms, threatening legal action”.

Miss Crouch added: “The report, if it is ever published, will now be fully within the remit of the CAB, but in the meantime I shall continue to help those in my constituency to seek early debt advice and support the work of the charities and organisations that help people who find themselves in personal financial difficulties.”

Medway CAB did not comment.