Trant said this can be attributed to lack of knowledge on how to access these benefits and this lack of knowledge can lead to financial exclusion.
She said: “The idea of being financial excluded is that you don’t have access to financial products. In the very extreme end, this can mean not having access to a bank account and having to rely on different ways to manage money.
"There are different degrees of financial exclusion. It could mean that you do have a bank account but you don’t have any features with it - so you don’t have a savings account, or you don’t have an overdraft or you can’t get a credit card. Or it can mean that the product you can get don’t work for you. So, you have a very high APR product that’s too expensive.”
Trant said there are four things employers can do to support their colleagues gain control of their finances.
This includes continuously communicating the positives of any work benefits available, getting the right stakeholders together to improve the financial wellbeing of workers, invest in opt-out savings programmes and look at financial wellbeing toolkits that are data driven to enable more people to take action with their money.
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