Building Resilient Households report
Publication date:
25 September 2023
Last updated:
18 December 2023
Author(s):
Chartered Insurance Institute
Financial resilience is a key piece of work for the CII which is growing in importance. There’s an increasing sense of insecurity amongst UK households, as a result of recent challenges such as the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. This profound report the Building Resilient Households Group is a continuation of the important work which they have led over several years, assessing the financial resilience of UK households and encouraging action to improve the situation.
The report identifies areas of significant concern. There are striking statistics in this report, pointing to the increasing trend of people lacking financial resilience. They highlight urgent issues such as the growing problem of people being unable to work due to ill health and the often-limited support from employers in these cases. The Building Resilient Households Group lay out the statistics whilst never disassociating those statistics from the human side to these issues. The impact that low financial resilience has on people on a personal level is substantial.
The report points out recent developments, looking at the current tools used to track the state of resilience and put these under the microscope. Despite these welcome additions, the report rightly calls for more to be done. Their work with stakeholders suggest others agree. We need to do what we can to shore up vulnerabilities.
The real power of this report comes from the wide range of voices on which it draws. Respected experts and practitioners from the world of charities, local government, employment and business have contributed along with those from politics, regulation, and financial services. There is now real hope that a consensus can be built around this report about how to turn the corner to a more resilient society. Rightly, this is the key priority for the Chartered Insurance Institute this year, and we look forward to engaging on these issues with policymakers and fellow professionals.