Fair4All Finance and WPI Economics have launched a report titled Financial inclusion and growth. The report sets out how financial inclusion can be a core part of achieving the UK Government’s growth mission.

The report looks at three key areas; savings, car insurance and better financial wellbeing, and argues that greater financial inclusion in these areas leads to increased growth.

In the case of car insurance, removing the poverty premium would generate an extra £369 million per year for the UK economy. Over the course of this Parliament, UK GDP would be £1.5 billion higher as a result.

This report follows the recent launch of Fair By Design’s new position paper week titled Driving Change: Policy Ideas to Tackle the Car Insurance Poverty Premium.

Fair By Design’s Director, Rebecca Deegan, said:  

“The new analysis by Fair4All finance is further evidence that investing in financial inclusion is good for people and good for the economy.

“Too many people are excluded or are charged more for essentials, paying a poverty premium because of factors they cannot control, such as where they can afford to live. 

“For instance, people living in deprived areas can pay over £300 more on car insurance per year than those living in more affluent areas. But as this new research shows, tackling the poverty premium in car insurance can grow the economy by hundreds of millions of pounds per year.  

“This should be a no-brainer. This is growth that puts money back into people’s pockets. We urge the Government to be bold as it develops the Financial Inclusion Strategy over summer, and include concrete actions to reduce poverty premiums in insurance and credit.”

This new report from British Future and the Belong Network describes a combination of social tensions and grievances – including polarisation and division, concerns about asylum and immigration, declining political trust, economic pessimism and worries about the impact of social media. The authors warn that unrest risks being reignited unless urgent action is taken.

They also identify some strong foundations on which to build, including public confidence in cohesion at neighbourhood level and numerous examples of impactful work across the UK to empower communities, build shared identities and strengthen relationships between people from different backgrounds.

The report is a foundational input to the new Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, chaired by Sir Sajid Javid and Jon Cruddas, which convened for the first time in June 2025.

The Foundation Practice Rating (FPR) is an objective assessment of UK-based charitable grant-making foundations. It looks at foundations’ practices in three key areas – diversity, accountability, and transparency.

The 2024/25 findings show gradual improvements in the sector, with progress across all three categories. However, diversity remains the weakest area, with no foundations receiving an A rating.

The report assessed 100 foundations, with some of the smallest outperforming the largest. Of concern was that 21 of the foundations assessed had no website, making it difficult for applicants to access crucial information. Indeed, none of the 12 foundations that scored a D in all three domains had a website, further highlighting accessibility challenges within the sector.

The FPR was initiated in 2021 by Friends Provident Foundation and is funded by a group of UK grant-making foundations, including Barrow Cadbury Trust.   This year, the ‘Funders Group’ includes: Friends Provident Foundation, City Bridge Foundation, John Ellerman Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Indigo Trust, Robertson Trust, and John Lyon’s Charity.

For more information, visit foundationpracticerating.org.uk where you can download a copy of the 24/25 report.

Offensive Weapons Homicide Reviews are unlikely to save young adult lives finds a new Centre for Crime and Justice Studies report. A new duty to review homicides involving offensive weapons is unlikely to achieve its aim of reducing weapons-enabled homicides, whatever else it may accomplish, the report says.

Offensive Weapons Homicide Reviews (OWHRs) were introduced by the previous Conservative Government in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. Their stated purpose is to help national and local agencies understand the causes of serious violence and prevent future weapons-enabled homicides.

The report by Dr Susie Hulley and Dr Tara Young, published by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, examines the potential benefits and risks of this new duty, particularly its impact on young adult safety. The authors analysed evidence about existing homicide reviews, such as Domestic Violence Homicide Reviews, which have been in operation for several decades. Homicide reviews, they argue, are not without merit. The research found that reviews can offer additional, important information about what happened, not least of all to a victim’s family and friends. However, the report finds that the recommendations from homicide reviews are frequently not acted upon, raising serious concerns about whether the learning from these cases is being effectively implemented – particularly given the lack of statutory duty or resources to do so.

If, after the pilot, OWHRs are rolled out nationally, the report provides recommendations that could mitigate some of the identified risks of existing homicide reviews, including for a publicly accessible national database of findings and recommendations. However, the authors conclude that OWHRs are unlikely to prevent weapon-enabled homicides involving young adults, and urge the Government to put well-evidenced interventions that reduce serious violence at the forefront of its approach to serious violence.

Authors of the report, Dr Susie Hulley and Dr Tara Young said:

“In light of these findings and the government’s ambitious target to halve knife crime over the next decade, we urge the Government to reconsider the cost effectiveness of a national rollout of OWHRs, and to instead focus on well-evidenced interventions that reduce serious violence and support young adults to flourish.”

Helen Mills, Head of Programmes at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said:

“If OWHRs are rolled out this report highlights important learning about how they can best work. However, we have some scepticism about whether this is the right approach. Clear evidence already exists about how to best prevent and respond to serious violence, and that the particular needs of young adults are often overlooked. Yet good practice remains frustratingly fragmented, and lacking the long-term sustainable funding it needs.

“My washing machine and hoover both went within a week of each other. I applied for a credit card, but that was rejected due to whatever I didn’t have in the bank. If you go with the catalogues, you’re paying huge interest – it’s poor quality and you’re paying more for it.” Lived experience contributor, Give Me Some Credit.

Fair By Design has launched its latest project, an online gallery titled Give Me Some Credit: The Reality of Life Without a Safety Net. You can view the online exhibition here.

For the past year Fair By Design has worked with The Poverty Alliance , Scotland’s network of organisations and individuals working together to end poverty, on this project to show what it is like to have no access to affordable credit.

Fair By Design brought together a group of 14 people, all of whom had experience of not being able to access affordable credit at a time of need. Using camera phones, they took photos and wrote stories to bring to life the day-to-day personal impacts on them.

Each photo and story reveal a unique perspective, from the stress of a household appliance breaking that you can’t afford to replace, to the anxiety of unexpected health emergencies.

Give Me Some Credit: The Reality of Life Without a Safety Net asks: what would you do without a safety net? And how can we build a fairer system where affordable credit is accessible to everyone?