Homeless will now be able to open accounts with UK's five biggest banks

Homeless people will for the first time be able to open accounts with the UK's five biggest banks in a pilot scheme marking the launch of the government's financial inclusion strategy.

- Kalyeena Makortoff

The Treasury said its new national plan was meant to ensure financial services "worked for everyone", as it also revealed programmes that could help rebuild the credit scores of domestic abuse victims, support families with no savings and roll out financial education in primary schools across the UK.

One of the schemes will lead to the lenders Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays, Nationwide and Santander waiving the need for people to have a fixed address in order to open a bank account. The move will help vulnerable people avoid the chicken-and-egg problem of needing a bank account to apply for work and rental accommodation across the UK.

It will involve partnerships with the homelessness charity Shelter, which will vouch for prospective customers based on information on the charity's database, while accompanying individuals to face-to-face meetings at a local bank branch. The scheme expands on a partnership with HSBC, which has opened 7,000 accounts for people experiencing homelessness since its start in 2019.