The government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy is failing those who need help, according to a new Treasury Committee report published today.
MPs claim the strategy is not a complete plan as it fails to identify who is excluded and why.
They also accused the strategy of failing to show where exclusion was concentrated and from which services and products people are excluded.
Without that information, the report concludes that 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 report points out that in 2024, the FCA revealed that 900,000 adults were 'unbanked' with no current account, while 13.1m, or 24% of all UK adults, had low financial resilience. Low resilience was particularly concentrated among lone parents, the unemployed, those with household incomes below £15,000 a year and renters.
In November 2025, the government published its Financial Inclusion Strategy which aims to help people participate in the economy, manage their money well and plan for the future. As part of that announcement, it confirmed that a review into the progress of the strategy will take place in 2027.
The Committee said it was sceptical about the government’s plans, concluding that tracking when working groups have met, pilots have started and consultations have taken place does not demonstrate whether the strategy is working.
It demanded the Treasury set out its assessment of the current levels of financial exclusion and publish the milestones it was attempting to reach. If it does not, it will not be possible to determine whether the strategy has been a success, the report said.
MPs 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.
Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury Committee, 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. The Treasury must not think that publishing the document and holding the occasional meeting with stakeholders will suffice. There is more that must be done.”
The Treasury’s plan is to implement a number of voluntary, industry-led pilots and working groups. These include an identity pilot for bank accounts, a contents insurance pilot for social renters and a working group on travel insurance and mental health.
The Committee expressed reservations about whether the voluntary initiatives can 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 wasn’t being made, and what the consequences would be.