Financial Inclusion Action Plan
The Plan was launched in 2005. It describes what the Government and its partners can do to increase financial inclusion. It is built around three strands of activity, money (debt) advice, financial capability (skills, knowledge and understanding) and access to financial products and services, in particular affordable credit.
From 2006/07 to 2007/08, delivery of the Financial Inclusion Action Plan was supported by £10.6 million of funding, the Financial Inclusion Fund, allocated to the 11 local authority areas with the greatest problems of financial exclusion. The allocations were based on levels of income deprivation and the proportion of households without bank account or savings.
Local Authority | % households without bank account or savings | % of LA population that are income deprived | Funding allocation (£'000 per year) |
Glasgow City | 21.9 | 27.8 | 900 |
West Dunbartonshire | 15.8 | 21.2 | 600 |
Inverclyde | 15.2 | 18.8 | 600 |
North Lanarkshire | 14.5 | 18.5 | 500 |
South Lanarkshire | 14.1 | 15.5 | 500 |
Renfrewshire | 13.1 | 15.8 | 450 |
Dundee City | 12.9 | 19.7 | 450 |
West Lothian | 10.6 | 13.8 | 350 |
East Ayrshire | 10.5 | 18.0 | 350 |
North Ayrshire | 9.0 | 18.7 | 300 |
Eilean Siar | 8.9 | 15.2 | 300 |
Because the Financial Inclusion Fund was available for 2 years only, effective services developed using it needed to be sustainable in the longer term, for example, by mainstreaming them within community planning partners' activities and resources.
From 2008/09, financial inclusion activity can be supported through the Fairer Scotland Fund, allocated to all 32 Local Authorities.
The UK Government's Financial Inclusion: an action plan for 2008-11, set out how it will use its £130 million Financial Inclusion Fund to achieve its financial inclusion objectives over the next three-year spending period from April 2008 to March 2011. It also announced that the Financial Inclusion Taskforce would continue until March 2011, to monitor and evaluate progress and advise the UK Government on financial inclusion developments.
The UK Government's Financial Inclusion Fund supports activity covering Scotland. The first such Fund, from 2006 to 2008, included the Growth Fund, for third sector lenders, and the ' now lets talk money' campaign, which aimed to raise awareness of financial inclusion issues with intermediary organisations such as housing associations, and through them, to reach financially excluded individuals. The Growth Fund continues until 2011.