This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Helping people with their personal finances
06/06/2005
Organisations across Scotland, from banks to local authorities, have been urged to work together to ensure everyone has access to financial services, such as bank accounts and insurance.
Deputy Communities Minister Johann Lamont called for action as she launched Scotland's first Financial Inclusion Forum today.
The Forum brings together key organisations to generate and share ideas to help people take control of their own finances.
Detailed distribution of £10 million to support financial inclusion was also announced today. Ten local authorities with the greatest concentration of financial exclusion, will receive a share of this funding.
Ms Lamont said:
"It is simply unacceptable that in Scotland there are areas where as many as one in five people have little or no experience of using the basic financial services so many of us take for granted such as bank accounts and insurance.
"I expect banks, local authorities, housing associations and RSLs, community planning partners, credit unions and other key players to work together to provide access to bank accounts and affordable credit, to make saving possible, to help people understand and manage their everyday finances and ensure that information and advice are available when people get into debt.
"Those coming together today have a shared responsibility for ensuring that poverty is not exacerbated by lack of access to financial services. I know there is a great will amongst organisations to provide solutions and use their different knowledge and experience. I look forward to working with the Forum to make progress on developing new and innovative ways to end the exclusion so many experience."
The Forum will come together through large annual events and smaller local networks in order to improve financial education and inclusion, delivering on Scotland's Financial Inclusion Action Plan, published by the Executive earlier this year.
Detailed distribution of £10 million which supports the Action Plan will be allocated to 10 local authorities with the greatest concentration of financial exclusion in their areas.
In line with the Closing the Opportunity Gap target, £5 million per annum for 2006/07 and 2007/08 will be distributed to the areas where there are currently the greatest problems of financial exclusion. This is based on levels of income deprivation and the numbers of Scottish people without a bank account or savings.
Allocations to local authorities
Local Authority
| % households without bank account or savings
| % of LA population that are income deprived
| Funding allocation (£) (per annum 2006/07, 2007/08) |
|---|
| Glasgow City | 21.9
| 27.8 | 900,000 each year |
| West Dunbartonshire | 15.8
| 21.2 | 600,000 each year |
| Inverclyde | 15.2 | 18.8 | 600,000 each year |
| North Lanarkshire | 14.5 | 18.5 | 500,000 each year |
| South Lanarkshire | 14.1 | 15.5 | 500,000 each year |
| Renfrewshire | 13.1 | 15.8 | 450,000 each year |
| Dundee City | 12.9 | 19.7 | 450,000 each year |
| West Lothian | 10.6 | 13.8 | 350,000 each year |
| East Ayrshire | 10.5 | 18 | 350,000 each year |
| Eilean Siar | 8.9 | 15.2 | 300,000 each year |
The Financial Inclusion Forum conference was held in Glasgow and was the first conference of its kind in Scotland. The conference brought together over 200 delegates including those from local authorities, the voluntary sector, credit unions, financial institutions and representatives from money advice services, from housing associations and other organisations such as Communities Scotland.
The Scottish Household Survey shows that:
- 11 per cent of adults don't have a bank or building society account
- 37 per cent of households have no savings
- 40 per cent of households in rented accommodation do not have home contents insurance