Finance firms ‘should help those excluded’

Its argument centres on the proposed establishment of a generic financial advice service in Britain to help lift those on low incomes out of debt management trouble and bring people into the financial mainstream.

So far many major financial service providers have been sceptical about the practicalities of setting up such a service in the UK and some have called for greater degree of clarity from the government on the issue, the foundation explains.

Chief executive of the Resolution Foundation Sue Regan remarked: “Last year, feedback from the industry suggested that the Government should clarify its priorities before its role in funding generic financial advice could be discussed.

“Now that this has happened, the industry should engage positively in this discussion.”

According to figured from accountancy firm KPMG, debt management woes led to more than 100,000 Individual Voluntary Arrangement applications during last year alone.