Financial inclusion Champion (Expressions of Interest) for
Scotland
Thank you for registering your interest in our requirement for a Financial
Inclusion Champions team for Scotland. The Terms of Reference and
objectives of this initiative are detailed below. Please note when considering
expressing an interest in bidding for this work the key evaluation criteria will
be (but not limited to):
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Proven track record in financial exclusion issues;
Knowledge, skills and experience to be able to influence and deliver at
the strategic level required;
Experience of working at a strategic level with chief executives and
senior managers, and
Evidence of the partners that will cooperate and work with you to
deliver solutions.
The successful organisation should also have sufficient resource capability to
replace key personnel should they become unavailable for any significant
period of time.
If you wish to be considered for this work please submit by email to the NLTM
email address, an expression of interest (EOI) along with the following
information:
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a short summary of your organisations involvement in financial
exclusion/inclusion which demonstrates a proven track record using no
more than 500 words;
basic details about the size and purpose of your organisation;
confirmation your organisation is registered under the Data Protection
Act and your registration number, and
contact name, email address and telephone number
Please forward EOI to:
NEWCASTLE.NOWLETSTALKMONEY@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK
with a subject line of:
Financial Inclusion Champion (Expressions of Interest) for Scotland.
The closing date for EOI is 19th August 2008.
Please note, not all organisations which express an interest will be invited to
tender and decisions will be made on the information provided in the 500 word
summary, and the information provided about the capability of your
organisation.
If you require any further information please contact either Lindsay Watt on
0191 224 7762 or Malcolm McNichol on 0191 224 7761.
Tender documents will be issued electronically week commencing 25th
August 2008.
Your response should be submitted electronically to the address as above but
also by hard copy to:
Barbara Elliott
Senior Commercial Manager
M0074, Durham House,
Washington, Tyne and Wear
NE38 7SD
To be received no later than 9th September 2008. As there will be interviews
held with potential organisations it is important that the senior manager and
team responsible for the bid are available w/c 15th September 2008. The
successful organisation will be appointed as soon as possible after that date.
Funding is available for this initiative until March 2011.
Financial Inclusion Champions Team for Scotland
1. Introduction
1.1 The financial inclusion Champions initiative is intended to support the
Government’s financial inclusion objectives through the development and
implementation of local level action plans that will both support and inform all
other areas of the Government’s financial inclusion policy. The Champions
will work on a sub regional and national basis, to build and coordinate local,
regional, and sector wide partnerships in order to stimulate the demand for,
and in some cases increase the supply of, basic financial services for
financially excluded people in appointed ‘areas’. The team will also work in
partnership and cooperate with other teams across GB at DWP’s request.
1.2 It is considered that the approach to addressing financial exclusion in
Scotland is to recruit one national team consisting of one national strategic
champion, and three sub regional champions covering:
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East of Scotland focussing particularly on Edinburgh, Dundee, Fife and
Clackmannanshire
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West of Scotland focussing particularly on Glasgow, North and South
Ayrshire, Inverclyde and North Lanarkshire
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North Scotland.
1.3 In England, regional Champions will focus on financial exclusion in urban
and metropolitan areas, while an additional (Rural) Champion will have a
remit for rural areas. The team for Scotland will cover both urban and rural
areas. In rural areas, the issues are more dispersed, difficult to identify and
resolve. However, when the impacts of rural issues are aggregated they
present significant challenges to be addressed – especially access to banking
services, including affordable credit.
2. High level policy objectives
The Champions will work to achieve outcomes in line with UK and Scottish
Government objectives across the three high level goals for financial inclusion
policy which are as follows:
2.1 Helping people to manage their money day-to-day:
 Increase access to and take up of transactional bank accounts
(supporting progress towards the shared goal)
 Encourage greater confidence in using direct debit payments (tying in
with the Bankers Automated Clearing Services (BACS) campaign, and
Financial Services Authority (FSA) financial capability initiatives) and
wider use of bank accounts for day-to-day budgeting and money
advice.
2.2 Helping people to plan for the future and cope with financial
pressure:
 Increase awareness of third sector lenders as an alternative to home
credit/doorstep lenders/high interest lending
 Work to develop credible proposals for establishing new third sector
lending provision in high priority areas identified by Financial Inclusion
Taskforce research
 Encourage greater habitual saving into formalised, secure products
 Promote active engagement with Government supported saving
schemes including the Child Trust Fund and Saving Gateway
 Support the regional co-ordination of the Save Xmas campaign.
 Monitor and feedback on the use of informal saving products, and
 Increase the take-up of home contents insurance in the rented sector
2.3 Helping people to deal with financial distress:
 Increase awareness of sources of free, impartial debt advice (Financial
Inclusion Fund (FIF) funded and others) both face to face and
telephone
 Support the take up of preventative guidance including financial
education, capability and learning projects
 Support the development of partnerships between debt advice
agencies and local third sector lenders, and
 Work in partnership with appropriate organisations including BERR’s
illegal lending teams to combat illegal lending and do everything
possible to ensure support and referral mechanisms are in place for
victims.
3. Delivery
3.1 Champions will work to achieve the outcomes stated in paragraph 7.1, in
support of the policy objectives by developing and promoting effective
partnerships between key organisations, especially trusted intermediaries who
work closely with the financially excluded.
3.2 It is essential that the leader of the Champions team has proven
knowledge, skills, experience and a track record of being able to influence
and deliver at the strategic level required.
3.3 The Champions team will focus on the provision of affordable credit in the
high priority areas identified by Financial Inclusion Taskforce research as well
as the wider financial inclusion objectives set out by the Scottish Government.
3.4 The Champions team will work with the Scottish Government, chief
executives and senior managers of local authorities, housing associations,
government agencies including regional development agencies, third sector
and (where appropriate) try to forge partnerships with private sector financial
services providers and the Post Office. And they will work to develop new
partnerships and service delivery opportunities where insufficient exist at
present.
4. Terms of Reference
Business requirement
4.1 To provide a small, dedicated team of people consisting of a Senior
Strategic Champion and three regional sub Champions who have experience
of working with the social housing sector, local authorities, the third financial
sector and other third sector intermediary organisations to develop the work of
the ‘now let’s talk money’ campaign by increasing consumer awareness of the
financial products and services available, and working in each region of
Scotland to increase access to:
 banking
 affordable credit and savings
 face to face and telephone money advice and guidance and
 home contents insurance (HCI).
5. Contractual requirements
5.1 Champions Key Work Objectives
 To build the role of local authorities and Community Planning
Partnerships in financial inclusion to meet the policy objectives across
each region and nationally.
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Where scope for significant improvement in local authority engagement
is identified to use the experience and lessons learned from the
financial inclusion beacon authorities in England and the eleven pilot
authorities in Scotland to encourage greater engagement and obtain
greater commitment.
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To develop local networks of financial inclusion intermediaries through
events and regular stakeholder engagement; building on the work
initiated by ‘now let’s talk money’ Stakeholder Managers.
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To develop and work to national and regional action plans by
identifying the most significant issues with the greatest potential for
improvement, particularly in areas identified as having high levels of
financial exclusion, and identifying clear, practical actions that will lead
to solutions.
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To develop partnerships with Rural, Housing and Insurance
Champions, sub regional and financial inclusion Champions for Wales
to share good practices and lessons learned.
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To work with local stakeholders and partners (e.g. local authorities,
housing associations, banks, commercial lenders and other key
stakeholders such as third financial sector) to establish steering groups
to develop credible proposals for establishing new provision of
affordable credit, saving and banking services in areas where there is
currently little or no provision.
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To continue to ensure that demand for mainstream banking is
promoted.
5.2 Issues to be explored
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Identify best practices: e.g. tactics and solutions employed by successful
partnerships and organisations that could be employed by others, and
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Arrange introduction of referral and communication routes to ensure
identified practices can be shared
5.3 Job Holder Requirements
The requirements for the job holders will include:
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Sound experience of financial inclusion issues affecting, urban and rural
communities in Scotland
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A proven track record of working with stakeholders to overcome
financial exclusion, including a history of the delivery of successful
projects
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The management credibility and consultancy skills to engage with a
wide range of senior contacts in the social housing, insurance sectors,
stakeholders and intermediary organisations
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Good written and oral communication skills
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Good research and analytical skills and
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A good understanding of financial inclusion issues.
5.4 Management arrangements
The contract will be managed by the DWP Financial Inclusion Team (FIT) in
partnership with Scottish Government (SG):
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FIT/SG will jointly evaluate all 1) Expressions of Interest and 2) all bids
received to deliver the service
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FIT/SG will conduct all post tender negotiations
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FIT/SG will conduct an initial face to face meeting with the contractor
prior to the award of contract
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FIT will conduct bi-weekly telephone check point meetings with the
contractor
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FIT/SG will conduct monthly face to face check point meetings.
6. Timescales and outputs
Stage 1
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The Champions’ team for Scotland will be contracted to deliver from
commencement of contract to March 2011
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The contractor will provide a plan of activity to achieve national policy
objectives within one month of the award of contract
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The contractor will define the outcomes to be achieved by the team
within one month of the award of contract
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All plans and outcomes must be agreed by FIT/SG.
Stage 2
The contractor will produce regional action and implementation plans to
achieve national policy outcomes for agreement by FIT/SG within two months
of the award of contract.
The contractor will define the outcomes to be achieved within two months of
the award of contract;
 All regional plans and proposed outcomes will be regarded as work in
progress until they have been agreed by FIT/SG
 All plans and outcomes must be agreed by FIT/SG before further
payment of contract fees will be made by DWP
 The contractor will provide written reports of progress towards delivery
of each plan and agreed set of outcomes to FIT/SG on a monthly basis
for the first six months of the contract. The option of moving to a
quarterly reporting structure will be considered by FIT/SG thereafter
 The contractor will agree all press releases, presentations and launch
events with DWP/SG in advance of delivery. It is important that both
Government press offices are aware of relevant story lines, and that
agreed policy is followed.
7. Summary
7.1 During the next three years, we want the work of the financial inclusion
Champions’ team in Scotland to:
 increase the number of people owning and using bank accounts
 increase access to affordable credit and savings products
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increase the number of tenants who have home contents insurance
policies, and
increase access to face to face and telephone debt advice.
7.2 Detailed outcome requirements will be subject to FIT/SG agreement as
specified in section 6 Stage 2 above.