Many people, particularly those living on low income, cannot access mainstream financial products such as bank accounts and low cost loans.They are more likely to use the alternative credit market and pay higher levels of interest, leading to financial and social exclusion and poverty.
The West Midlands is one of the areas across the country with significant numbers of people who do not have access to mainstream financial advice, affordable credit or banking.
In order to tackle these problems Birmingham City Council established a Financial Inclusion Partnership to tackle the problem of financial exclusion by working in partnership with key organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureau, Consumer Credit Counselling Service, Trading Standards, Job Centre Plus, Credit Unions, Banks and Utilities.
The aim of the Partnership is to improve financial inclusion in the city; in particular to promote a more co-ordinated, partnership approach to debt recovery, access to financial services, prevention of problem debt and the provision of money advice. The Financial Inclusion Partnership has coordinated the delivery of four related strands of work, which together form the cornerstones of Birmingham’s Financial Inclusion strategy addressing the needs of the four priority areas as highlighted below:
