Our policy and research team tracks issues concerning responsible finance and advocates on behalf of our members. We liaise with government departments (particularly HM Treasury, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Cabinet Office), financial regulators, other alternative finance providers and trade bodies, to raise awareness of responsible finance providers and lobby for the development of the sector.
The team also keeps a record of industry intelligence through our annual surveys, which monitor the sector’s lending activity.
The main strands of our policy and research work are:
- Driving and monitoring the latest policy and funding developments and opportunities for the responsible finance industry
- Responding to government and regulator consultations
- Providing policy briefings to members and stakeholders on relevant topics
- Producing our annual industry report of member lending activities and impacts
- Annual measurement and reporting on member lending activity and impact
- Undertaking and commissioning innovative and original research concerning the development of the responsible finance industry
Our current policy asks are:
- Ensure there is long term and sustainable funding for business lenders, social enterprise lenders and personal lenders.
- Update Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR) to ensure it remains fit-for-purpose.
- Launch a tax relief for the personal lending sector to enable greater investment into responsible finance providers that are competing head on with high cost credit providers.
- Replace access to European Union funding and facilities through the UK’s new Shared Prosperity Fund.