The 2018 IMA Money Advice Awards were presented at the 2018 IMA Conference, held on 21 and 22 May at the Midland Hotel, Manchester.

The IMA Money Advice Awards recognise excellence and innovation in the field of money advice, and are open to individuals, teams, projects and organisations working at a national, regional, or local level, anywhere in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

This year’s winners were:

Money Adviser of the Year, sponsored by Computershare
	Lynn Crawford, Citizens Advice Gateshead

Debt Team of the Year, sponsored by PayPlan
	Money Advice Service Team, Citizens Advice Portsmouth

Best Partnership, sponsored by Phoenix Commercial Collections
	Debt Management Service, Citizens Advice and StepChange Debt Charity

All those shortlisted were presented with a certificate at the Money Advice Awards drinks reception before the awards dinner itself, at which the winners were announced and congratulated on stage. The winners’ organisations will each receive a cheque for £500.

About the awards

Here’s what the 2017 Debt Team of the Year winner has to say about the experience and impact of winning:

“It was fantastic to have the team’s hard work, knowledge and commitment recognised nationally. Attending the award ceremony and the IMA conference was a great experience, not just because of the award, but to hear about what other people are doing and learn from their experiences.

We decided to use the prize money to help support our needier clients in the run up to Christmas. We will be donating shopping vouchers, and to top up the funds are launching a campaign in which we are asking people who don’t claim their winter fuel allowance to consider claiming it and donating it.

We’d encourage other teams and individuals to enter this year’s awards. It wasn’t a difficult or overly time consuming process, and just being shortlisted is a great boost.”

Alison Starling, Charter Housing