Financial Inclusion Monitor

Overview

The Financial Inclusion Monitor provides an annual, independent benchmark of financial inclusion in the UK. It measures whether households have the income, financial products and advice they need to manage money safely, participate fully in society and build lasting financial security.

Why monitor financial inclusion?

Too many households in the UK lack the basic building blocks of financial security: an adequate income, appropriate financial services, and free, suitable financial advice and education. Financial exclusion increases costs, vulnerability, poverty premiums and exposure to financial shocks. Monitoring is needed to understand the scale and distribution of financial insecurity and to target action effectively.

Since 2013, CHASM’s Financial Inclusion Monitor has produced the UK’s most comprehensive, independent analysis on financial inclusion, providing a trusted picture of who is being excluded and why. Without clear, consistent monitoring, efforts to improve financial inclusion risk being fragmented, hard to measure, and difficult to target effectively.

How is the research delivered?

The project combines new survey data with robust secondary analysis to create an annual financial inclusion benchmark. It also uses evidence from commissioned reports and lived-experience accounts to add context to quantitative findings and show how financial exclusion affects people's lives.

What difference will monitoring financial inclusion make?

The Monitor will help make financial inclusion in the UK clearer to measure and track each year. It will be shared with key stakeholders to inform policy and regulation on access to bank accounts, affordable credit, savings, pensions, insurance, debt advice and financial education. It can also help assess whether support works, encourage financial services and other organisations to be more open about their role, and provide a stronger basis for future research.

• Dates: Sept 2025 – Aug 2030
• Funders/partners: Trust for London, The Mercury Charitable Trust, Rooted Finance
• Project lead: Adele Atkinson
• Research team members: Adele Atkinson, Louise Overton, Mhairi Webster

Outputs

• Annual Financial Inclusion Monitor reports
• Short-form documents and presentations summarising key findings
• Insights reports
• Lived-experience stories, images and video
• Future output: an interactive dashboard to track financial inclusion indicators and progress over time

Events & Engagement

• Roundtables bringing together policymakers, financial services representatives and regulators.

• Annual Monitor launch event in Westminster.

• Film showing