Labour's Financial Services Plan pledges national financial inclusion strategy

Labour's Financial Services Plan pledged a national financial inclusion strategy to address financial exclusion, according to Fair By Design, which welcomed the plan in a statement dated 11 February 2024¹. The charity, which campaigns on the extra costs faced by people on low incomes, described the pledge as a commitment to create a national financial inclusion strategy¹.

The plan sits within the wider financial inclusion policy area, which covers access to banking, credit and advice. Fair By Design's statement did not set out the strategy's contents, timetable or delivery body, and no further detail on the plan's measures has been reported in the material available¹.

The charity's later commentary sets out the scale of the problem the strategy is intended to address. It cites a Nest Insight report, published as the final part of its Real Accounts project, which found that irregular incomes affect more than 25 million people on low and moderate incomes in the UK¹. The report identified a "volatility premium", described as the financial and mental impact of missing out on products and services because of an irregular income¹. Examples given include higher costs for credit and insurance, and missed opportunities to benefit from products such as direct debits, interest-bearing savings accounts or annual insurance payments¹. Direct debits, the charity said, can tip people further into debt because they are not designed for people paid irregularly, charging people who do not have the exact amount in their account at the same time every month¹.

Separate figures cited by the charity put the cost of two specific poverty premiums in motor insurance at:

The charity also cites an FCA Financial Lives survey finding that around 13 million people have low financial resilience¹, and a Fair4All report showing financial inclusion is a £6.4 billion opportunity for growth¹.

Why it matters for households

The pledge concerns people who are shut out of mainstream financial products or pay more for them. The charity's figures indicate the affected group is large: more than 25 million people on low and moderate incomes manage irregular incomes¹, and around 13 million people have low financial resilience¹. For those households, the practical effects described are higher credit and insurance costs, and being unable to use annual payment or interest-bearing savings products¹. The motor insurance figures show the size of two such costs: £153 more for drivers in the most deprived areas based on postcode, and £71 a year on average for paying monthly rather than annually².

The strategy itself is a policy commitment. No implementation date, funding or set of measures has been reported, so it is not yet possible to say which households would see any change, or from when¹.

What happens next

Fair By Design's later response, dated 16 July 2026, followed the Treasury Select Committee's publication of findings from its inquiry into the Financial Inclusion Strategy². The committee's verdict was that the strategy is "a welcome first step, but not yet a complete plan"². Its recommendations included that HM Treasury must publish, within six months, an implementation and accountability framework with baselines, measurable targets, named delivery owners and annual reporting to Parliament; that HM Treasury and the FCA should develop firm-level financial inclusion metrics covering contents insurance, affordable credit and access to basic banking; and that governance of the Financial Inclusion Committee should be strengthened with published terms of reference and a recorded voice for consumer groups and people with lived experience of financial exclusion².

The charity said the strategy and the inquiry still fail to treat the poverty premium as a cross-cutting issue, and that motor insurance barely features². It also said there is no mention of a Fair Banking Act². Rebecca Deegan, Director of Fair By Design, said:

The charity also noted that its Senior Advisor, Prof Martin Coppack, will sit on a committee set up by HM Treasury¹.