Welcome to the forum WhatAMess.

This is an interesting question that I've thought about sometimes.

From a debt advisory perspective you can only really point people towards solutions based upon the facts that you know. Things that the adviser (and their client) could not know for sure include:

1 - Was PPI missold?
2 - What value of PPI was missold?
3 - How quickly would the bank deal with the claim?
4 - Would the bank accept that it was missold?
5 - Would the bank deal with the claim honourably?
6 - How long might the Ombudsman take to assess a complaint?
7 - What decision would the Ombudsman reach?

So if you're working with a client who cannot afford their debt repayments and/or household bills now, who might be facing legal action, who might be facing the imminent loss of their home or vehicle, or whose health is being damaged by the stress of the situation, would advising them to enter a totally uncertain and potentially lengthy process of trying to reclaim PPI be in their best interests?

There will certainly be cases where, with the benefit of hindsight, recovering PPI might have avoided the need for a formal debt solution. At the time of offering advice though, you can only deal with the facts as they are known then.