The service, a ‘free and impartial’ financial guidance service for consumers, reported it received 16m contacts from customers in the year between April 2013 and March 2014, compared with its annual target of 5.45m.
The vast majority of contacts were made online, which accounted for 16.3m contacts, compared with 102,000 face to face, 75,000 telephone chats, and 30,000 webchats.
The new figures also suggest more people are acting on the guidance they receive from the service, with 514,000 people taking money management steps between April and December last year, while the annual target was 480,000.
Late last year MPs on a Treasury sub-committee criticised the MAS’ ‘primarily digital’ strategy, questioning the effectiveness of the approach.
Overall they branded the MAS “not fit for purpose” in its role and reach and called for an urgent independent review.
However, a National Audit Office report out around the same time took a more lenient view, saying the MAS was “moving in the right direction” and was already providing valuable debt advice.
The service funded the delivery of around 163,000 free face-to-face debt advice sessions through its partners, including the Citizens Advice Bureau, last year, according to its results.
MAS’ figures suggest the service exceeded all its annual satisfaction targets, with nine out of ten customers saying they would use the service again and 90% saying they would recommend the service to other people.
Chief executive Caroline Rookes said: “This has been a year of important growth – both in performance of the service, and our work in collaboration with partners.
“I’m pleased we have achieved what we set out to achieve at the start of this financial year, but we still have far to go – we want to reach out to millions more people who need our help.”
