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Help for the 'financially excluded'
Some communities do not have access to cashpoints |
Plans to give disadvantaged people better access to financial services are to be unveiled by the government.
The proposals are being revealed at the same time as a Treasury report into financial exclusion.
The study suggests that after high street banks have pulled out of disadvantaged areas, many people do not have access to basic services such as cashpoints or home insurance.
Melanie Johnson, economic secretary to the Treasury, said the government was determined to tackle financial exclusion.
Many of the answers lay in local initiatives, she said.
'Valuable help'
"Although government can and will do everything practicable to help the process, much of the necessary action will depend on developing and making best use of local resources," she said.
"Many local organisations are already providing valuable help to the financially excluded around the country."
The report is one of 18 such studies from policy action teams investigating social exclusion set in motion by the prime minister last September.
As part of the investigation discussions were held with groups working in deprived communities in Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
The report describes how local community groups, sometimes with private business, have created financial services which may not otherwise have existed.
They include credit unions offering savings and loans services in disadvantaged areas, and housing associations running contents insurance schemes for tenants.
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22 Mar 99 | Your Money |
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'1.5 million' lack access to financial services |
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05 Oct 99 | The Company File |
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Banks squeeze out unprofitable customers |
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