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FIF cuts confirmed
The Legal Action Group are reporting that the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) will be end in March, based on a very brief parliamentary answer:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2011-01-19a.34671.h&s=Financial+Inclusion+Fund
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire, Conservative)
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to make an announcement on the future of the Financial Inclusion Fund.
Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 19 January 2011, c836W)
Mark Hoban (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Fareham, Conservative)
The Financial Inclusion Fund will close at the end of March this year. The Government will work closely with industry and other stakeholders to ensure that tackling financial exclusion remains a high priority.
The full LAG article is at http://legalactiongroupnews.blogspot.com/2011/01/fif-cuts-confirmed.html
The following message was circulated to Citizens Advice Bureaux this morning and is reproduced here in full with the permission of Tina Barnes, FIF Programme Manager for Citizens Advice.
FIF Programme Briefing: Funding Update - discussions continuing.
On 19th January, at Parliamentary Questions, Harriet Baldwin MP asked the Chancellor “when he plans to make an announcement on the future of the Financial Inclusion Fund. Mark Hoban, the Economic Secretary provided a written response which stated: “The Financial Inclusion Fund will close at the end of March this year. The Government will work closely with industry and other stakeholders to ensure that tackling financial exclusion remains a high priority.”
The written response from Mark Hoban also included: “The previous Government committed the financial inclusion taskforce to a five-year life. The problem is ensuring that inclusion becomes a mainstream financial services issue and is not seen as something on the margins. That is why I will work closely with the financial services sector and other interested parties to see how we can best take forward the work of the financial inclusion taskforce. It is not an issue for those on the margins; it is an issue that should be taken seriously from bank boards to bank branches.”
Therefore in effect, Mr Hoban has simply confirmed what we have all known for a considerable time, that the current Financial Inclusion Fund funding (which as well as debt advice also consists of funding for credit unions, and other financial inclusion initiatives) will end on 31st March 2011, but does indicate that mainstreaming is still on the agenda.
Citizens Advice is proactively continuing to talk to Government about central Government funding for debt advice. We have raised this issue with Ministers, as have many others; including the Financial Inclusion Taskforce. At the current time, it is understood that a number of Ministers are currently considering whether there might be any ability to fund any extension to the current services beyond the end date of 31st March 2011. Please be assured that we are urging Ministers to conclude on that consideration as soon as possible. We will of course share any further news with you as soon as it becomes available.
In the meantime, it remains necessary and prudent to plan for any future contingency: this includes the potential end as well as the potential continuation of current FIF programme funded services.
Finally, if you have not yet briefed your MP, please do so as soon as possible. It is vitally important at this time to ensure your representative is aware of the potential impact of the loss of central Government funding on your ability to deliver a debt advice service in your local area. A number of MPs are becoming engaged on this issue and many more will help to protect our front line debt advice services.
bbc report @ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12330429
parliamentary written answer yesterday .... ‘The Government have not yet taken a decision on the future of the projects currently funded from the FIF, including the face-to-face debt advice service .... ‘
funding extended for another year ...