Response to Treasury Committee report on Financial Inclusion Strategy

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Money and Mental Health responds to Treasury Committee report on government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy

14 July 2026

Today the Treasury Committee has published its inquiry report exploring the government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy.

The Committee’s report welcomes the Strategy as a first step in tackling exclusion, but calls for the government to introduce clearer targets, data and accountability for its implementation.

It also warns that financial services industry voices had too much influence on the development of the Strategy, and calls for consumer, civil society and lived-experience voices to have a clear and continuing role in shaping its delivery.

Helen Undy OBE, Chief Executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, gave evidence to the Committee’s inquiry. She is also a member of the government’s Financial Inclusion Committee, which helped shape the Financial Inclusion Strategy.

Responding to the Treasury Committee report, Helen Undy OBE said: “We’re pleased that the Committee took seriously our concerns that at times consumer voices were drowned out by the lobbying power of the financial services industry. It is perhaps no surprise then that the resulting strategy relies too much on the goodwill of the industry to deliver, and lacks a robust process for measuring impact and ensuring the sector delivers real change.

“We urge the Treasury to act on these concerns by using every lever at its disposal to ensure that the Strategy delivers its commitment to ‘transform’ financial wellbeing for those who are currently shut out from these services.”

ENDS

Contact:

For media enquiries, please contact Alex Goodfellow, External Affairs Officer at Money and Mental Health, on 07754 446272 or [email protected]

Notes to Editors

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute is an independent charity set up by Martin Lewis, and committed to breaking the link between financial difficulty and mental health problems. We conduct research, develop practical policy solutions and work in partnership with both those providing services and those using them to find what really works. www.moneyandmentalhealth.org.
Helen Undy OBE is a passionate mental health campaigner and became the Institute’s Chief Executive in 2018, having previously led the charity’s impact and communications work.