Southampton Partnership: Delivery Board Meeting 10 December 2009 Department for Work & Pensions Financial Inclusion Champions Initiative

Transcription

1 Southampton Partnership: Delivery Board Meeting 10 December 2009 Department for Work & Pensions Financial Inclusion Champions Initiative 1.0 Overview of Project: 1.1 Background: The programme is funded by the Department for Work & Pensions and takes forward the work of the Now Let s Talk Money campaign. The aim is to work across all regions of the UK to build and coordinate partnerships to promote financial inclusion and share best practice. Financial inclusion is a state where people have access to appropriate and affordable financial products and services, and the skills and confidence to use them. 1.2 Purpose: The aim of the champions programme is to reduce financial exclusion by increasing the take up of home contents insurance, savings, appropriate bank and other transactional accounts, free face to face debt advice/money management training and affordable credit. The role of the champions is to raise awareness of the issues surrounding financial exclusion and stimulate change through local strategies and partnerships. 1.3 Team and remit: Three champions cover the following local authority areas: Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton & Hove, Plymouth, Eastleigh, Havant, Gosport and Fareham. 1.4 Key partners: Regional agencies, local authorities, social housing providers, local strategic partnerships and relevant third sector organisations are well placed to combat financial exclusion. Examples of best practice include: Having an explicit financial inclusion strategy/action plan, with a named officer responsible for it Including financial inclusion in local area agreements, local economic assessments, sustainable community strategies and social and community regeneration planning Embedding financial inclusion within strategies and informing priorities and decision making Training front line staff regarding the issues of financial exclusion and ways to help local people Identifying gaps in provision of services to address financial exclusion - 1 -

2 Supporting people to access financial products in an informal, community setting 2.0 The situation in Southampton 2.1 In 2006 the South East of England Regional Development Agency (SEEDA) commissioned the Small Change Partnership to undertake research on the levels of financial exclusion in the South East. This included the construction of an Index of Financial Exclusion, which ranked super output areas (SOAs) using weightings produced by regression analysis and the Index of Multiple Deprivation. According to this data, Southampton has the second highest number of super output areas in the worst 20% in the region. i This translates to 54,000 people in 36 extremely financially excluded SOAs. 2.2 Similarly, the Financial Inclusion Taskforce funded Experian to map the likelihood of financial exclusion at ward level and rank against other areas. Wards are ranked in septiles from one to seven (seven being the most financially excluded). Out of the sixteen wards in Southampton, six are ranked in the highest category of financial exclusion. Details of all ward rankings and maps reflecting the SEEDA and Experian data are included in the appendices. 2.3 It is likely that all the figures below underestimate the reality in Southampton due to high levels of financial exclusion and deprivation. 2.4 Debt Levels and Demand for Services Average household debt in the UK is circa 9000 (excluding mortgages) or 58,000 including mortgages (October 2009). Citizens Advice Bureaux deal with over 9000 new debt problems everyday in England and Wales. ii Local data from Southampton CAB and the council will be provided on The SEEDA report calculated that 2.3% of in the South East are in need of debt advice; this translates to an estimate of 2279 in Southampton in need of debt advice. iii 2.5 Bank & Savings Accounts The most recent Family Resources Survey (FRS) (2007/08) found that 2% of in the South East do not have any form of transactional bank or savings account. iv We can estimate that 2% of the population in Southampton lacks any type of bank or savings account, equating to 1982 v 2.6 Home Contents Insurance - 2 -

3 The FRS found that 16% of all in the South East do not have home contents insurance; from this we can estimate that 15,855 in Southampton do not have home contents insurance. The Financial Inclusion Taskforce have undertaken research (July 2009) to map the demand for home contents insurance schemes operated by social landlords. Southampton is ranked 31 st out of all local authorities, the highest ranking of any local authority area in the South East. vi 2.7 Affordable Credit In 2007 the Financial Inclusion Taskforce commissioned Experian to analyse the supply and demand of affordable credit across the country. Southampton was identified as one of twenty-five red-alert areas due to the mismatch between the supply and demand of affordable credit. For example, there are now two credit unions in the city, each with under 1000 members. By contrast, Portsmouth credit union has thousands of members. The SEEDA report found that 6.6% of in the South East have no access to affordable credit. From this we can estimate that 6540 in Southampton have no access to affordable credit. 3.0 What the city does well current initiatives 3.1 There are various initiatives and organisations that already provide services in the city which help financially excluded people to access basic financial products and services; a summary will be included in the presentation on How could Southampton Partnership help to further alleviate financial exclusion in the city? 4.1 Coordination There are a number of organisations across the city that provide financial inclusion related services. Inter-organisational awareness is key to avoid duplication between organisations and ensure that financially excluded people can obtain appropriate support from the organisation most suited to their needs. The mapping of these services has been started by the champions; would the Southampton Partnership allow the team the use of existing communication channels to survey every member of the partnership to ensure that all services are mapped? The champions would keep this mapping analysis up to date and circulate to the partnership

4 4.2 A strategic approach Preliminary discussions have taken place with the council to include a financial inclusion action plan within relevant strategies. Would the Southampton Partnership delivery board wish to comment on this action plan? This could include specific targets, although measuring success would require future local research in some areas. Example targets are listed below. Output Total Baseline of exclusion Debt advice Bank/Savings account Home contents insurance Affordable credit , Data Target Source SEEDA % report reduction 2006 FRS % reduction FRS ,684 20% reduction SEEDA report % reduction Measuring success Survey required FRS 2011 & 2012 FRS 2011 & 2012 Survey required 4.3 Public Sector Mosaic This socio-demographic profiling tool could be utilised to map financial exclusion at a micro level. Would the Southampton Partnership endorse the council s Research and Information team to undertake some mapping work in conjunction with the champions? 4.4 Think Family The Think Family initiative acknowledges the impact that debts can have on families; would the Southampton Partnership wish to incorporate financial inclusion to the Think Family approach given the synergies? 4.5 Front-line staff training It is vital that front line staff are aware of the issues around financial exclusion and how they can support clients by signposting to appropriate organisations or offering direct support to access specific products. The above mentioned mapping work could be developed into multi-agency staff training, which could be complimented by financial capability courses. This would enable staff to spot the signs of financial exclusion, signpost to appropriate financial inclusion services when necessary and support clients directly regarding financial - 4 -

5 capability. Could financial inclusion be incorporated into existing multiagency training programmes and multi-agency inductions? 4.6 Engaging with the LSP Financial exclusion cuts across all themes within the Southampton Partnership. What is the best way to engage with the four LSP subgroups? (We have been invited to present to the Children and Young People s Trust in January). 4.7 Please see other relevant statistics in the Appendix. -ENDS- Appendices Appendix 1 Maps Maps of Financial Exclusion in Southampton: SEEDA (Southampton & Portsmouth areas) - 5 -

6 Experian (Southampton) Ward rankings (Experian Mapping) Census Ward Population estimate 2008 Septile Ranking Bevois Bitterne Redbridge

7 Bargate Swaythling Woolston Coxford Millbrook Harefield Portswood Peartree Freemantle Shirley Sholing Bitterne Park Bassett Appendix 2 - Other Key Statistics It is likely that all the figures below underestimate the reality in Southampton due to high levels of financial exclusion and deprivation. 1. Income Poverty A widely-used measure of poverty is where household income is below 60% of the median UK income after housing costs have been paid. Every year the Government publishes a survey of income poverty in the UK, Households Below Average Income (HBAI). The latest figures from the most recent HBAI survey (2007/08) are listed below along with local estimates based on population. vii Households which include at least one child Households of people of working age without children Pensioner UK Income Poor 13.5m or 23% Southampton Income Poor 53,958 viii Of which the breakdown is: 7.2m or 53% 28, m or 34% 18, m or 13% 7,

8 2. Fuel Poverty Fuel poverty currently affects around 2.4m, or 11.5% of in England, based on 2006 data. ix Using this national average, approximately 11,400 in Southampton are affected by fuel poverty. 3. Tax Credits Tax credits are a crucial extra financial aid for those supporting children and those with low incomes. Nationally, around 4.3 billion worth of tax credits went unclaimed last year, and Citizens Advice received over 3.5 million calls from people who were confused by the tax credit and benefit system. x Based on the total population of the UK (2008) being around 61 million, we can estimate that 16.5m in tax credits went unclaimed in Southampton last year. xi This figure excludes other unclaimed benefits such as council tax and housing benefit. 4. Repossessions Data from Southampton County Court reflects that the number of mortgage repossessions in 2009 is less than previous years: Mortgage Repossessions xii Year Q Q Q Q Total Feedback from Communities and Local Government suggests that this trend is replicated nationally; it is likely that lower house prices are the reason for the drop in repossessions as lenders are currently less likely to recover their debts via repossessions. However, given that house prices have started to increase again, it is probable that the number of mortgage repossessions will increase next year. xiii - 8 -

9 i Portsmouth was found to be the most financially excluded local authority, with 37 SOAs classed as extremely financially excluded (equating to 55,500 people) ii Credit Action website: iii Based on total being (April 2009) Vanella Mead, Research & Information Officer, Southampton City Council. iv Based on a survey of 25,000 people across the country. FRS data: May 2010 based on ; May 2011 based on ; May 2012 based on v See endnote IV vi vii viii Based on total population of 234,600 As of ix x xi Based on population of Southampton (234,600) being 0.385% of total UK population (61m) % of 4.3b = 16,555,000 xii xiii Alison Sanson, Southampton City Council,