Taking Control: a Financial Capability Strategy for NI

As representatives on the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment (DETI) Financial Capability Forum Housing Rights Service has contributed to the development of a Financial Capability Strategy for Northern Ireland (NI). 

Areas for action and target groups

We support the strategy and agree with the NI Executive’s vision for “Better informed, more skilled and more confident consumers, better able to manage, plan and take responsibility for their financial affairs”. The strategy identifies the following areas as priorities for action: 

• Financial Inclusion
• Welfare reform
• Rural Inclusion
• Youth Employment and Adult Education

The strategy identifies target groups who will benefit most from advice, support and intervention.  One such group is “Vulnerable Housing” which includes people living in hostels, social housing tenants and those who rent privately.

Accessible and affordable credit is essential for vulnerable clients

It’s great to see that Financial Inclusion has been identified as a priority within the strategy. However, it's disappointing that none of the practical areas for action relate specifically to promoting Financial Inclusion. Our years of experience in providing housing debt advice to thousands of vulnerable households show that people are financially excluded for a variety of reasons. A huge issue for our clients is accessing affordable credit, particularly in an emergency.

Our Policy Manager, Nicola McCrudden, explains why we feel this is so important: “Most of our clients who are in debt can’t get mainstream financial services. They can’t afford to pay for items up front and don’t have access to credit at a reasonable rate of interest.  The changes to the Social Fund will make this even worse. Many low income households are becoming reliant on high cost credit; both legal and illegal."

Working with credit unions and social enterprise

One of our recommendations is for the NI Executive to work with credit unions and social enterprises (e.g. social investment businesses and housing associations) to promote development, expansion and long term sustainability of services including financial inclusion initiatives.

Given the widespread use of high cost lending in lower income communities, we believe that tackling expensive lending must be a priority for the NI Executive. In order for the Financial Capability strategy to be effective, the NI Executive must ensure that everyone has access to affordable, appropriate financial products. To achieve this, concerted effort is needed to ensure that there is sufficient supply of appropriate products within the lower cost sector.  Read our full response below.