How the Government is supporting financial inclusion
Access to financial services for the vunerable
The United Kingdom has one of the largest, most sophisticated and competitive financial services sectors in the world. It has responded quickly to the demands of a rapidly changing economy - new technologies, higher living standards and changes to the ways people live and work - providing a wide range of financial products to meet evolving needs.
Yet there is growing evidence that the market is not able to meet everyone's needs. A small but significant minority are unable to access even the simplest financial services, meaning that they pay more to manage their money, find it harder to plan for the future and cope with financial pressures, and are more vulnerable to financial distress and over-indebtedness.
The Government believes that everyone should be able to: manage their money effectively and securely; plan for the future with a reasonable degree of security; and have the information, capability and confidence they need to prevent avoidable financial difficulty, and know where to turn if they do find themselves in financial distress.
The Government set out its strategy to tackle financial exclusion in Financial Inclusion - the way forward, published on 28 March 2007.
The report makes a number of key announcements:
- there will be a new Financial Inclusion Fund for the next spending period;
- the current level of intensity of action to promote financial inclusion will be maintained, with the exact amount of the new Fund to be determined after the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR);
- a cross-Government working group composed of ministers with an interest in financial inclusion will be established to develop policy next steps, and publish a detailed action plan after the CSR; and
- the Financial Inclusion Taskforce will be extended so that it continues throughout the next spending period
If you wish to discuss any Financial Inclusion / Exclusion issues with our support team please telephone freephone 0800 074 6918.
Financial Inclusion Menu
- Aims of financial inclusion
- How the Government is supporting financial inclusion
- Promoting financial Inclusion
- Financial Inclusion Taskforce
- The reality of financial exclusion
- The implications of being financially excluded
- Toynbee Hall and SAFE: Services Against Financial Exclusion
- Asset-building and the Saving Gateway
- Financial education
- Basic bank accounts
- Financial Inclusion fund for England & Wales
- Conclusion
IVA's
The IVA Guide
Money Advice Direct has put together an IVA Guide based on the enquiries and questions that we receive at our helpline offices.
In the guide we cover such subjects as IVA Approval, early settlment of your IVA, missed IVA payments, IVA failure, additional debt claims and much more.
[click here for IVA Guide]
What is an IVA?
The IVA is an extremely powerful tool enabling you to clear your debt and return to a clean financial bill of health. Visit Money Advice Direct's Guide to Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs).
[more...]
DANGER
Due to the tremendous demand for debt consolidation services the United Kingdom is now overloaded with debt management companies that contain misleading information. [more...]