Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department considers the (a) have regard duty on the Financial Conduct Authority and (b) guidance provided in the Government’s remit letter, published on 14 November 2024, to be sufficient basis for the Financial Conduct Authority to take steps to support people with low financial resilience.

The Government recognises the key role the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has in improving financial inclusion for UK consumers. This is why the FCA is part of the Financial Inclusion Committee which has been convened to develop a Financial Inclusion Strategy. The membership of the committee reflects the fact that the whole financial inclusion ecosystem will need to work together for the strategy to be a success, including government, industry, consumer representatives, and the regulator.

The strategy will be published later this year and will seek to tackle a range of barriers which prevent individuals from accessing the financial services and products they need. This will include actions for the FCA to take forward as part of their responsibilities within the sector, as well as relevant metrics to monitor the strategy’s progress.

The Government will work closely with the FCA to deliver the strategy and regularly engages with the FCA on this topic at ministerial and official level. In November, the Chancellor also included reinforcing financial inclusion as a matter for the FCA to have regard to in her letter of recommendation. In response to this, Nikhil Rathi noted the FCA’s support for the development of the Financial Inclusion Strategy and its collaboration with partners to help build consumers’ financial resilience.