Fair by Design
Give Me Some Credit: The Reality of Life Without a Safety Net
The Challenge
Affordable credit in the UK is in short supply. People on low incomes find themselves with very limited affordable credit options and often have to resort to illegal money lenders such as loan sharks, family or friends, or go without. It is clear more needs to be done to drive a step change in the provision of affordable credit, so that people on low incomes can manage the financial ups and downs that we all experience throughout our lives.
Approach
Lived experience was at the heart of this project. Over the past year, we worked with The Poverty Alliance – Scotland’s anti-poverty network – to highlight the real life impact of being denied affordable credit. Fair By Design collaborated with 14 individuals who have faced this issue of lack of affordable credit first hand. Using their camera phones, participants captured images and wrote stories that illustrate the daily struggles of not being able to access affordable credit. The result is a powerful visual and personal account of what it means to live without a financial safety net.
Learning
This further embedded lived experience at the centre of our work. People with direct experience of financial exclusion are best placed to shape the solutions. This project highlights how important it is to include the voices of those with lived experience to inform policy making and financial services design.
Outcome
The project culminated in an online and in person gallery Give Me Some Credit: The Reality of Life Without a Safety Net.
To launch the exhibition, we held a parliamentary event on 10 February 2025 in the Jubilee Room, Westminster, in partnership with the APPG on Fair Banking. We were joined by speakers Lloyd Hatton MP (Chair of the APPG), Daisy Cooper MP (Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson & Deputy Leader) and Navendu Mishra MP (PPS to the Deputy Prime Minister). In total, 15 parliamentarians came to the event.
Five project participants attended the event, sharing their experiences with MPs and policymakers. We were delighted to arrange a tour of Parliament for those who had travelled from Scotland.
