Update on financial capability: Young Adults Group
Briefing Note BN004/2005
31 March 2005
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today announced a programme of work targeted at young adults aged between 16 and 25. The work will look at the best ways of delivering financial education messages to anyone in this age group who is going to/at university or college; not in work or full time education; those excluded from school or school refusers and young people who are on the margins of society through, for example, being homeless, living on benefits, or young parents.
The work has been developed through the Young Adults Working Group, one of the seven working groups within the National Strategy for Financial Capability, launched by John Tiner, CEO of the FSA in November 2003. It includes three pilots, a website and a good practice guide.
Pilot 1. Fairbridge West – "On Your Own Two Feet"
Fairbridge West is a charity skilled in working with young people who are outside the formal education system. The organisation describes its goal as "to build self-belief and motivation in the most challenging young people offering the foundations for a life full of choices and opportunities."
What is Fairbridge West doing?
Introducing financial capability into the core life skills curriculum for excluded and vulnerable young adults in the Bristol area. This includes examples such as looking at all the financial implications involved with decorating a flat and setting up a home – searching for furniture from IKEA, charity shops, markets and looking at different funding methods like credit unions.
Creating a film course which looks at ways to encourage learners to think about and investigate personal finance issues; for example visiting a local bank, visiting a local debt advice centre, looking into different forms of credit and ways to save.
Output
Financial Capability toolkit for people working with disaffected/excluded youth by August 2005.
Pilot 2. Roehampton University, Surrey - New Money, New Responsibilities
What is Roehampton University doing?
Developing seminars and support sessions for students to develop their financial competency, awareness and skills.
Using experience of individual support sessions with students to draw up good practice material, including student case studies.
Training volunteer students to give peer support on general financial matters using this material.
Reaching students through a variety of ways of events e.g. a sponsored student dance, volunteer fair and fresher events.
Output
A good practice guide with case studies for staff to use with students and peer-educators within the higher education sector. To be done by the end of 2005.
Pilot 3. Citizens Advice – Front Line Financial Capability
What is Citizens Advice doing?
Developing ways of delivering financial skills training to front-line practitioners who work with young adults, including those from statutory, community and housing sectors. E.g. the Connexions service, youth services, social services, training agencies, registered social landlords, and youth charities.
There are three CABx piloting this work – Oldham, Basildon and Norwich.
Output
A good practice guide and training materials to train people working with young adults in a variety of settings, e.g. youth work, Connexions Personal Advisers, Social Services Leaving Care teams. To be done by the end of 2005.
A website designed for young people
The working group has also formed a partnership with Milkround Online; a web site created for Higher Education students looking for jobs in the UK. It currently reaches 350,000 students and covers different year groups and a wide variety of universities across the UK.
Milkround Online (MO) will work with the Young Adults Working Group to create web pages dedicated to financial planning. Important messages and top tips will be available to students through a series of articles, which will also be emailed directly to MO subscribers.
A good practice guide
Additionally the Young Adults Working Group is working on two further activities; a case study focussed Good Practice Guide capturing examples of effective work already being done in the field, and a research report to inform our work with young adults. The research will investigate provision of information and current levels of understanding; explore current perceptions and gaps; identify information needs and barriers and explore how information can be changed to become more effective. Both will be published at the end of June.
Anna Bradley, FSA Consumer Director
"Improving the financial capability of young people in the UK is extremely important as it sets good financial foundations for the future. This audience has major financial responsibilities thrust upon it and it is critical that they make the right decisions at the beginning rather than creating a history of debt and mismanagement of finances that will take years to resolve. These pilot schemes will take a step forward in understanding this audience; identifying what is needed and what can be done to help."
Frances Harrison, Manager of Fairbridge West
"Learning how to look after your home, pay your bills and budget effectively are vital skills for everyone. The young people we work with often come from fragmented and chaotic backgrounds, securing their own home symbolises a new start which may act as a springboard into education or employment. The young people on this project are not only learning new skills but finding out about how the credit union and debt advice centre can help them take control of their money."
Notes to Editors:
- In November 2003, the FSA launched the National Strategy for Financial Capability to develop and implement a strategy to improve consumers' ability to make financial decisions with confidence. A Steering Group made up of a group of representatives from industry, government, voluntary agencies, employers, those who use financial services and those who comment in the media about them was set up to oversee this strategy. For further information, please visit www.fsa.gov.uk/financial_capability
- The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and fighting financial crime.
- Our aim is to promote efficient, orderly and fair markets, help retail consumers achieve a fair deal and improve our business capability and effectiveness.