Treasury launches Financial Inclusion strategy

The Treasury has unveiled its Financial Inclusion strategy which will aim to bring a focus on building financial resilience for households most at risk of problem debt.

The Financial Inclusion Committee’s mission is to tackle barriers to individuals and households’ ability to access affordable and appropriate financial products and services.  

The Treasury said its new national plan was designed to ensure that financial services work for everyone, as it also revealed programmes that could help rebuild the credit scores of domestic abuse victims, support families with no savings, and roll out financial education in primary schools across the UK.

Peter Tutton, Director of Policy, Research and Public Affairs at StepChange, said: “Low financial resilience, a lack of savings and limited access to affordable credit, are some of the biggest challenges that keep people trapped in a cycle of debt. StepChange polling shows that four in ten (21.6 million) UK adults would not be able to meet all of an unexpected £1,000 expense without borrowing. We’re pleased to see the Government launch its Financial Inclusion Strategy which is a once in a generation opportunity to offer meaningful, long-term financial resilience for people across the UK.

“Our recent research into coerced debt and economic abuse revealed that impaired credit files can be one of the biggest barriers in preventing victim-survivors from rebuilding financial stability. It’s great to see the Government take action to address credit scores as part of the strategy. 

“We’ve welcomed the opportunity to feed into the Strategy and look forward to working closely with the Government and others in the sector as it progresses.”