This article deals with issues of financial exclusion. It reports upon the growing scale of such exclusion in contemporary Britain, explores its causes and considers the policies currently pursued by government. The authors suggest that present policies concentrate upon supply-side solutions, looking to improve the provision of mainstream financial services to impoverished individuals and communities. These supplyside solutions rely upon exhortation and the mobilization of good-will among providing institutions, rather than the enforcement of legal obligation. The article then outlines a particular initiative designed to tackle financial exclusion from a demand-side perspective, that is to say through the improvement of the financial circumstances of indebted individuals themselves. It concludes by emphasizing the contribution which such ‘bottom-up’, rather than ‘top-down’, solutions can make to combating financial exclusion.
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