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The City's view of chancellor Gordon Brown's economic forecasts may have dominated the headlines, but hidden within this pre-Budget statement were moves to help the people whom Britain's banks seem to have forgotten.

A Treasury report attached to the mini-Budget asks what can be done about the "unbanked" - the 8 per cent of British households without a bank account.

Brown has set a target of halving the number of adults without a bank account from two million to one million, and wants the banks to have made "significant progress" on this within two years.

At government urging, some high street banks have been offering basic bank accounts, which can be opened without the usual need for credit checks because they minimise the risk of unauthorised overdrafts. Brown says one million such accounts have opened since 2003.

However, in "mystery shopper" tests, nearly half the testers were unable to open a basic bank account without difficulties. The pre-budget report admits banks are concerned the accounts are not profitable enough and may be used for money laundering.

Claire Whyley, the National Consumer Council's deputy head of policy, welcomes the pledge of a Treasury task force to address financial exclusion.

"Banks have a patchy record on promoting basic no-frills bank accounts to people on low incomes," she says. "So giving the banks a target - reviewable after two years - is a step in the right direction. But the NCC would also like the banks to offer accounts that are more useful and attractive to low-income consumers."

A significant practical step towards extending access to credit in Brown's pre-Budget report is a change to the rules of the controversial Social Fund. But the change is nowhere radical enough for critics, who lament the fund's shift away from grants for the poor to loans.

The social fund loans scheme is to be boosted by £210m over three years by abolishing the "double debt" rule. This bars applicants from taking out further loans if they already owe the fund more than half of the maximum sum they can borrow. Ministers do not know how many people will be affected by this rule change, but a recent reply to an MP's question revealed that, in 2000-1, more than one million applications were made for a further loan by people who already had outstanding debts to the fund.

But critics maintain that the problem is that many low-paid people have a traditional working-class aversion to debt.

Jonathan Stearn, director of the End Child Poverty campaign, says: "One man we spoke to would not borrow any money at all because he did not want to get into debt. His council would not give any help with school uniforms. We are quite keen on the idea of child development grants for cases like this."

Further steps are also being considered to help the growth of "third-sector" lenders, such as credit unions and community development finance institutions. The government hopes to set up a growth fund to promote the sector, which remains tiny in the UK, but this is subject to European Union approval.

In addition, the government says it will consult on raising the 1 per cent cap on interest rates that credit unions can charge. It is also considering allowing private and third-sector lenders to apply for repayments to be made by a direct deduction from the borrower's benefits.

Brown's pre-Budget report also contains a clutch of welfare-to-work measures. Pathways to Work pilot schemes to get people off of incapacity benefit and into work are to be extended to cover one-third of the country by next October.

Though the move is intended to cut Britain's estimated £7.7bn incapacity benefit bill, it has been described as "more carrot than stick" by the TUC.

Employment advisers will be posted in GP surgeries to encourage claimants to return to work, while those who do return to work will receive £40 in benefits as a top-up to their wages.

Bert Massie, chair of the Disability Rights Commission, welcomes the extension of the pilots: "More disabled people would return to work if they were given the support to do so, and the success of the pilot programme vindicates that opinion."


However, while describing the extension as "commendable", mental health charity Mind emphasises that incapacity benefit is still an "important safeguard" and that people with mental health problems must feel they are being helped back into the workplace rather than forced.

Similar welfare-to-work "carrots" are to be offered to an additional 8,400 lone parents in the South-East. Six more pilots of the In-Work credit scheme will give £40 benefit top-ups to lone parents who swap income support for work.

However, those campaigning against child poverty note that few measures in this mini-Budget aim to help lone parents who would prefer to spend time with their children.

"Support for those out of work is 20 to 30 per cent below the poverty line, while we also know that half of families in poverty have at least one person working," says Stearn.

There is also bitter disappointment at the small increase in the state pension, despite an extra fuel allowance for the over-70s.

Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, believes the basic pension should be raised to £105 a week. He says: "Unless there are cuts to council tax bills in the spring, many older people will feel that the chancellor is giving with one hand and taking away with the other."


Pre-Budget Report: Headline Announcements

Families

• An extra 1,000 Sure Start children's centres offering education and health support to be built by 2010, taking the total pledged to 3,500.
• A £3-a-week rise in the working tax credit threshold.
• A rise in the maximum eligible costs for the working tax credit to £175 a week for one child and £300 a week for two from April 2005.
• An increase in free child care for three to four year olds from 10 to 15 hours a week for 38 weeks a year.
• An increase in maternity leave from six to nine months, transferable to fathers from April 2007.
• Consideration of a further £250 (or £500 for low-income families) into child trust funds when children turn seven.

Older People

• An inflation-only rise in the basic state pension, expected to bring it up to £82.50 for single pensioners.
• A rise in the maximum pension credit savings reward to £16.44 a week.
• An extra £50 on the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.

Poverty

• A £210m boost over three years to the social loans scheme through the abolition of the "double debt" rule.

Local authorities

• An extra £1bn for councils next year, pegged to council tax rises of below 5 per cent.

Employment

• The offer of extra training to all workers in England who lack skills or qualifications, coupled with support for employers to allow employees to take the necessary time off.
• An extra £30m for the New Deal for Disabled People.
• The expansion of Pathways to Work pilots for incapacity benefits claimants, to cover one-third of the country from October 2005.
• Employment advisers posted in GP surgeries to encourage claimants to return to work.
• A £40 benefit on top of wages for incapacity benefit claimants who return to work.
• An extension to six more pilot areas in the South East of the In-Work credit scheme, giving a £40 bonus for lone parents returning to work.