Consultation key to beating cash exclusion

Local people should be consulted and involved in the development
of new financial services to tackle financial exclusion,
researchers argue in a new report published this week.

Around 1.5 million households in Britain – many concentrated in
communities with high levels of overall deprivation – have no bank
account and make no use of any other high street financial
services.

Findings from one such deprived community suggest residents
would welcome the development of basic bank accounts that cannot be
overdrawn and are available to all, and would be attracted to
schemes that link saving to borrowing.

But researchers caution that local involvement in the
development of any such services would be crucial to overcome
mistrust and antipathy.

“There needs to be a partnership approach between commercial
companies and providers with a local presence,” they conclude.

Tacking Financial Exclusion in Disadvantaged Areas from
www.jrf.org.uk