"Demands on the Welfare State have continued to grow. Despite increased expenditure we are now seeing that it cannot adequately meet all the needs presented to it. The response has been to promote personal pensions, individual savings and private health insurance. However, for many people there remains a significant gap between shrinking state provision and the extent of their individual personal provision. Family Association Banks or FABs are our nascent proposals to occupy this space."

In an attempt to reverse our ever-increasing dependence on the state, our sister organisation, the Relationships Foundation is developing an interesting proposal at the moment to strengthen extended families. Under the scheme, a group of people linked by marriage, blood or adoption would be able to pool their financial resources to secure group savings on insurance, financial and commercial products. These savings could then be used for group members' welfare needs, such as for education and healthcare.

If our politicians are to deliver the small state solution and family-friendly society that so many of them keep talking about, this is precisely the kind of proposal that they ought to be encouraging, so it is exciting to see insurance companies showing early interest in the idea. Read more about the proposals at the RF website.

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