ClearScore says concerns about the pandemic’s impact on the economy and knock-on effect on employment have resulted in many credit lenders withdrawing products from the market.

As a result the average person in the UK now has access to 59% fewer credit products than before the start of the crisis.

ClearScore says that key workers still need to travel to work, spend whilst they are out of the house and run their normal lives under significant extra physical and emotional pressure at work. But despite this heroic effort, their access to credit has been severely limited.

By verifying their employment status as a key worker and through the use of open banking and payslips, ClearScore and its lending partners plan to show a number of exclusive credit products designed specifically for key workers.

The initiative will also enable lenders to provide credit with confidence that the people they are lending to are highly unlikely to lose their jobs in the economic fallout from Covid-19.

Lenders that have already signed up to the initiative include Zopa, MyCommunityFinance, Salary Finance, CarFinance 247, and Zuto.

Data from ClearScore shows that demand for credit products has risen by 13.8% amongst the UK’s key workers compared to demand from the general population since the country went into lockdown on 15 March 2020.

Justin Basini, CEO and co-founder of ClearScore, says: “Since the 15th March, we have seen credit being withdrawn from the market by lenders without taking into account the differences between key workers and the rest of the population. These key workers are supporting us all through the COVID-19 crisis, and yet our data shows that credit is being withheld at a time when the demand has increased.

“With the additional data about employment status, we have seen a number of lenders develop specific products for key workers and we expect many more to come to the table in the coming weeks. This will make a real difference to some of the heroes on the frontline of the nation’s fight against COVID-19.”

Jaidev Janardana, CEO of Zopa says: “We at Zopa are delighted to be able to support key workers as part of this new initiative from ClearScore. Whilst we will of course still be making credit decisions using the data available on people’s credit reports, the additional information we are receiving from ClearScore on individuals’ employment status will help us lend to more key workers in the coming weeks. This will inevitably relieve the financial burden experienced by many key workers at this time, and we’re proud to play a role in helping society’s most valuable workers with their finances.”