Banks 'should aid' ex-cons

Banks have been urged to do more to help former prisoners access financial services in order to reduce re-offending rates.

According to welfare experts, exclusion from bank accounts, insurance and affordable credit is preventing many former offenders from finding work and securing a home, while it is also forcing their families into debt.

Chris Bath of the ex-offenders body Unlock and co-author of the report said: "Financial services are a crucial foundation for engagement in modern society.

"If we want people to lead productive lives, working, paying taxes and providing their family with a home, we cannot allow the justice system to sever people from their finances, even less to create lifelong financial exclusion."

The research found a third of people in prison did not have a bank account, and more than half had been rejected for a loan.