The Government does not have a complete plan to tackle financial exclusion in the UK, according to a committee of MPs. The Treasury Committee said that while the Financial Inclusion Strategy published in November 2025 is a welcome first step, it fails to show who is excluded, where exclusion is concentrated, which services and products people are excluded from, and why they are excluded.
Lack of Clear Targets and Data
Without this information, it is not possible for the Treasury to know if it is making the right interventions or whether they are reaching those who need the most help, the committee said. The Treasury must clearly set out its assessment of the current levels of financial exclusion and publish the milestones it is attempting to reach.
Its report said: “In order for the strategy to be effective, HM Treasury should publish a fuller quantitative analysis of the scale, causes and distribution of financial exclusion. That analysis should be matched by clearer targets, data and accountability for the implementation of the strategy. HM Treasury should also work with the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) to develop firm-level metrics focused on the largest providers and markets where exclusion causes the greatest harm.”
Focus on Products, Not People
The report said that witnesses argued that there was too much focus on products, and not enough on the people who were financially excluded. Other witnesses and written evidence pointed to barriers affecting a range of groups, including people with disabilities, people with mental health problems, victim-survivors of economic abuse, people without standard ID, people with low or irregular incomes, people in rural areas, older people and some ethnic minority groups.
In 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reported that 900,000 adults were “unbanked” with no current account, while 13.1 million, or 24% of all UK adults, had low financial resilience. This was particularly concentrated among lone parents, the unemployed, those with household incomes below £15,000 a year and renters.
Concerns Over Industry Influence
Tracking when working groups have met, pilots have started and consultations have taken place does not demonstrate whether the strategy is working, the committee said. The committee also expressed concern that industry voices may have carried greater influence in the production of the strategy and warned the Government that it must be able to clearly demonstrate that it is listening to consumer and lived-experience voices.
Plans include implementing voluntary, industry-led pilots and working groups – but the committee expressed reservations about whether voluntary initiatives would meaningfully tackle financial exclusion without clear routes to scale or effective evaluation. It called for clarity from the Treasury on whether it would intervene if sufficient progress was not being made, and what the consequences would be.
Reactions from Officials and Advocates
Chairwoman of the Treasury Committee, Dame Meg Hillier, said: “Governments often talk about wanting to raise living standards for those struggling. Tackling financial exclusion across all postcodes in the United Kingdom is a brilliant way to do that. The publication of the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy is a welcome first step, but that is all it is. Our report sets out why the strategy is far from the finished product. The Treasury must not think that publishing this document and holding the occasional meeting with stakeholders will suffice. There is more that must be done and I look forward to seeing how this progresses.”
Helen Undy, chief executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, said: “We’re pleased that the committee took seriously our concerns that at times consumer voices were drowned out by the lobbying power of the financial services industry. It is perhaps no surprise then that the resulting strategy relies too much on the goodwill of the industry to deliver, and lacks a robust process for measuring impact and ensuring the sector delivers real change. We urge the Treasury to act on these concerns by using every lever at its disposal to ensure that the strategy delivers its commitment to ‘transform’ financial wellbeing for those who are currently shut out from these services.”
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We welcome the Treasury Committee recognising this is a genuine first step in tackling financial exclusion. With the first financial inclusion strategy in two decades, we are determined to break down the barriers that prevent people from accessing the products they need to participate in the economy. Already we are piloting help for people with no fixed abode to open bank accounts, have increased debt advice funding by 10%, and are making financial education compulsory in primary schools in England.”
