Financial Skills for Life

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Key partner

Prudential

Prudential are our key partner in financial capability. Over the last seven years we have worked together to establish what works and share our experience with policy-makers and partners. We have also trebled the number of bureaux providing financial education.

Prudential share our ambition to see all bureaux in England and Wales providing some level of financial capability service by 2011. They have underpinned our work through their substantial long-standing investment. They have also encouraged and supported us to engage with other significant investors. They have helped us deliver a wide range of projects that help bureaux set up and deliver financial skills training to hundreds of thousands of people in their communities.

Other partners

Nationwide

Nationwide Building Society is supporting MoneyActive, an innovative three-year partnership to recruit and train 1,300 volunteers to deliver financial education within communities across the UK. The initiative will also host additional information to help people manage their money at the Citizens Advice website, Adviceguide.org.uk.

Barclaycard

Barclaycard’s Horizons programme assists lone parents by providing expert information, advice and support on practical and financial matters. Citizens Advice covers money issues, while partner organisations major on work and education. The programme has supported over 100,000 lone parents and their children.

Barclaycard has also supported Christmas top tips, a leaflet helping people to budget and choose credit. Between 2007 and 2010, 2 million Top tips leaflets have been distributed throughout the UK.

East of England Development Agency (EEDA)

With the support of the European Social Fund (ESF), EEDA is funding a project to provide financial capability training and job search assistance for unemployed adults and frontline workers. Citizens Advice is leading a consortium of national and local partners.

For further information: East of England project.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)

The Financial Inclusion Fund is a government initiative to tackle financial exclusion. A number of Citizens Advice Bureaux secured Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS formerly BERR) funding to increase availability of face-to-face debt advice to financially excluded clients. Some of those bureaux have taken part in a pilot to second advisers to spend time on financial capability work, delivering training to people from financially excluded groups and frontline workers who support them.

For further details: Financial inclusion fund financial capability pilot

Santander Foundation

The Santander Foundation has been supporting our work, through a range of initiatives since 2005. They supported our Adding value project which we carried out in partnership with pfeg (personal finance education group). This made recommendations about how bureaux and schools can work together to deliver financial capability and generated a good practice guide.

Santander Foundation was also a key investor in our bureau and forum grants programme. This has increased bureau participation in financial capability work and supported the establishment of 14 new multi-agency financial capability forums in 2007.

At present we are working with them to generate new self-assessment and quality tools for financial skills trainers. These will help bureau trainers deliver financial skills sessions to a consistently high standard.

HBOS Foundation

HBOS Foundation is supporting a three-year ground-breaking partnership between Citizens Advice and YouthNet to deliver financial information and advice that will benefit up to 500,000 young people. The project, Advice changing young lives, runs until 2010 and will improve the financial skills of young people through the provision of accessible and engaging information on YouthNet's www.theSite.org. The project has also produced short films and a series of factsheets on money management. These were developed in conjunction with Citizens Advice youth forum members and are available through YouTube.com/CitizensAdvice and Advice changing young lives.

The HBOS Foundation is also supporting Kirklees Citizens Advice to increase the reach of the Yorkshire and Humber Financial Capability Forum. The grant will run through to March 2012 and is funding a project officer and other services to support the Forum and to improve its engagement with local public sector stakeholders, develop partnership projects and join up local social policy work.

Office of Fair Trading (OFT)

The OFT is supporting Save Xmas, a public awareness campaign to inform people about the savings options they have for Christmas and other events. Bureaux and partner organisations have delivered information sessions to hard to reach end service users and front-line staff.

For further information: Save Xmas

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

HMRC is supporting a three-year project funding bureaux to deliver financial skills training sessions to voluntary and community sector intermediaries who work with older people. It uses training materials developed by Citizens Advice, and is well on course to train 500 practitioners.

For further informaton:Older people’s project

Consumer Financial Education Body (CFEB)

CFEB (Consumer Financial Education Body) is supporting the Regional finacial capability forums throughout England and Wales over two years to March 2012.

We worked with them on the Young People and Money project - a national programme delivering training on financial skills to frontline workers who work with young people not in education, employment or training. Citizens Advice co-developed the materials, and bureau representatives have attended many of the sessions to talk about the debt advice process and services available locally.

For further information: Young People and Money

We have also hosted secondees from the financial capability teams of CFEB. They have worked with us on a range of strategic issues and produced resources such as a guide to help bureaux and their partners access funding from local authorities to deliver financial capability.

For further information: Past projects

Citi Foundation

Citi Foundation is funding our ongoing programme of tutor skills courses for new financial skills trainers, taking place across England and Wales. We provide free places and travel bursaries for bureaux and for other organisations in regional financial capability forums or the national TRANSACT network.

The Foundation is also supporting follow-on development opportunities for course participants, to further embed good practice and the delivery of high quality training.

For further information: Training and learning support services

J P Morgan Foundation

JP Morgan Foundation is supporting St Helens Citizens Advice Bureau to develop and deliver a range of new courses for primary and junior school children and their parents/carers in the Liverpool and St Helens area. Liverpool Central Bureaux, Liverpool John Moores University and pfeg will also be involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of the project.

For further information: Family learning project

Previous investors

Bank of America Foundation

Bank of America Foundation supported our 14 regional financial capability forums throughout England and Wales over two years to December 2009.

Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)

In 2009 the Department for Energy, and Climate Change (DECC) funded the roll out of the Energy Best Deal (EBD) campaignacross all 14 forum regions in England and Wales.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

In 2008-9 the Now let’s talk money project funded the 14 regional financial capability forums to deliver training on financial capability to frontline workers in a range of organisations.

Friends Provident Foundation

Friends Provident Foundation invested in our bureau and forum grants programme during 2006-7. This included substantial ‘seedcorn’ funding to get bureaux started in financial education work and development funding to help bureaux build on previous delivery experience. It also supported the first phase of establishing 14 new multi-agency financial capability forums across the regions of England and Wales.

Rayne Foundation

The Rayne Foundation contributed to the first phase of our ‘Front-line Financial Capability’ project. This was delivered during 2005 through core investment from the Financial Services Authority (FSA). It helped frontline staff working with young people to improve the financial skills of 16-24-year-olds. It helped young adults practitioners improve the financial skills of young people aged 16-24.

Severn Trent Trust Fund

Severn Trent Trust Fund supported us to deliver our three-day group training skills during 2004. It also funded the development of our ‘Effective banking’ training materials. These have helped bureaux to deliver training on topics such as choosing, opening and using a bank account.

Basic Skills Agency

The Basic Skills Agency (now part of NIACE) funded Citizens Advice and a group of bureaux in the Midlands to pilot ways of delivering money management skills to people with basic skills needs. The project ran during 2001-2 and was delivered in partnership with local basic skills providers.