We were pleased to see our financial vulnerability dashboard we developed for the Local Government Association (LGA) referenced in this new government guide on health and well being. See ‘Understanding local needs’ in this link Financial wellbeing: applying All Our Health – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The financial vulnerability dashboard can be found here:
Financial hardship and economic vulnerability in England | LG Inform (local.gov.uk)
It provides an overview of financial hardship and economic vulnerability at local authority area. It has been designed for viewing at local authority geographies. Users can select individual councils at the top of the report and compare it on a range of criteria against different peer groups – for example, within a city or across England.
It is intended that this insight can be used to help stakeholders understand the issues at local level, inform the design of support services, encourage greater partnership working, help make the case for resources and funding as well as aid the development of an effective response.
The report includes a range of indicators designed to provide an indication of how households and their finances have been impacted or are likely to change in the near future. Moreover, these indicators are presented alongside data on pre-existing levels of financial vulnerability, to identify how and where the scale of financial hardship is increasing and thus where relevant support services such as hardship grants and money / debt advice are required or may need scaling up.
The LGA, with consultancy support from the Financial Inclusion Centre, has been working with a group of seven Local Authorities on the Reshaping Financial Support programme www.local.gov.uk/topics/welfare-reform/reshaping-financial-support – looking how to design and implement early intervention financial support and services that can prevent low income households developing further financial issues. Participating authorities: Brighton and Hove City Council, Bristol City Council, Leeds City Council, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Newcastle City Council and Royal Borough of Greenwich.
COVID-19 has seen the programme refocus specifically on the unfolding response to economic vulnerability working collaboratively to explore their experiences and challenges and develop new solutions/approaches. The group widened to include representatives from: Birmingham City Council, Devon County Council, Gateshead Council, Hertfordshire County Council, Kent County Council, London Borough of Islington, London Borough of Southwark, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and Stevenage Borough Council.
For further information on the work we do on financial exclusion please contact: Gareth Evans (Co-Director) gareth.evans@inclusioncentre.org.uk
Please contact lginform@local.gov.uk should you have any feedback.