By Susan Allen OBE, Chief Executive, Yorkshire Building Society

I’m pleased to have been asked to join the Government’s Financial Inclusion Committee. This is recognition of the contribution Yorkshire Building Society and the wider mutual sector is making to help people build financial resilience.

Financial inclusion is fundamental to a fair society. But it’s more than just making sure people have access to a bank account. 

It’s about giving people the knowledge, confidence and support they need to make the right decisions that will set them on firmer financial foundations. 

We’ve long campaigned for financial education to be introduced from an early age. Children should grow up with healthy attitudes to money and understand how to manage a budget, choose the right products and plan for the future. 

I’m delighted the Government agreed with us and last year committed to ensuring financial education is on the primary school curriculum from 2028. In its absence to date, we’ve supported people to learn about money. In 2025 alone we reached 15,100 children, young people and adults through our financial education programme, Money Minds. 

A key theme for the committee is economic abuse, and the additional barriers it creates for people accessing financial products. At Yorkshire Building Society, we take seriously our responsibility to protect vulnerable customers as part of helping build financial resilience. Our colleagues receive dedicated training on domestic, financial and economic abuse, from recognising warning signs to offering safe, sensitive support and reporting concerns appropriately.

Another focus is the link between financial exclusion, debt and mental health. We know from research we’ve supported recently by the Building Societies Association and Bristol University that mental wellbeing can be improved if people are able to save regularly – even small amounts. 

The researchers also found having £2,000 in savings is an important threshold – it means households with this buffer are 60% less likely to fall behind on bills. Unfortunately, around one in five people have less than £1,000 in savings and one in 10 have nothing at all.

Having a savings buffer matters because it reduces the likelihood that people will get into debt if they are hit by unexpected costs. Our partnership with Citizens Advice supports this effort. We have the charity’s advisers in 44 of our branches providing free, impartial advice. In 2025 these advisers helped 5,600 people in our branches, our customers and non-customers alike. Debt was one of the top five issues people came to them with last year.

Because it can help people weather financial shocks, insurance also plays an important role in financial resilience. This is at the heart of the Society’s zero-commission insurance offer, which saved our members nearly £2.3m in its first year. 

It is right the government is bringing industry to the centre of efforts to strengthen the UK’s financial resilience. Yorkshire Building Society, alongside the wider mutual sector, is already making a significant contribution in this area and I look forward to sharing our experience and learning from others around the table.

For more information on Yorkshire Building Society visit www.ybs.co.uk
For more information on the Government's Financial Inclusion Strategy visit www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-inclusion-strategy