In or Out? Financial Exclusion: A Literature and Research Review

Around 1.5 million households in Britain lack any financial products at all; 4.4 million are on the margins of financial services and usually have little more than a bank account and between a quarter and a third of people have no savings, home contents insurance or private pension. The people who lack access to financial services are frequently also excluded in other ways, and financial exclusion often reinforces other aspects of social exclusion.

This report was compiled with the aim of identifying the extent, nature and causes of financial exclusion:

• Setting these within an overall context of social exclusion;
• Identifying the barriers to inclusion and ways of tackling themThe document makes a series of recommendations for overcoming financial exclusion in the UK. These include:
  • Increasing access to financial services, e.g. by entering into partnerships with supermarkets, post-offices, non-profits, community banks, LETS, community banks;
  • Improving accessibility for people with disabilities;
  • Designing new type of risk assessment practices that will increase access;
  • Tackle racism;
  • Designing appropriate financial and savings products;
  • Increasing affordability of products;
  • Tackling financial literacy and overcoming psychological barriers;
  • Monitoring financial exclusion.