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Financial inclusion fund financial capability work

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Keeping spending under control

One-to-one coaching was provided to Shoana,
a debt client referred to Redcar Citizens
Advice Bureau by a local housing association.
Shoana was struggling to stick to her payment
plan and asked the bureau for extra help.
Through face-to-face coaching, the bureau was
able to provide tips to help her save money and
to monitor and control her weekly spending.
They also helped her know how to find the best
energy deal and make a start with short-term
saving. As a result of the coaching Shoana
said that she felt more confident at managing
her weekly budget. She has also been able to
keep up her commitments under her payment
plan and has joined her local credit union.

The Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) was a government initiative to tackle financial exclusion. It targeted three priority areas: access to free face-to-face money advice; access to banking services; and access to affordable credit.

Ten projects led by Citizens Advice secured Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) funding to increase availability of face-to-face debt advice to financially excluded clients.  The projects have been running since 2006, helping 70,000 clients per year. The Financial Inclusion Fund has now ended but has been replaced from 2011 with the Face to Face Debt Advice Programme. The ten projects led by Citizens Advice will continue under this scheme until at least April 2012.

Survey of debt advice service users

Users of the Financial Inclusion Fund debt advice service between April and June 2010 were surveyed. The information has helped us to understand more about why clients choose face-to-face debt advice:

Face-to-face debt advice (Adobe Acrobat Document 390kb) – at the heart of local community support services

Financial capability work

In 2008, Citizens Advice was funded by BIS to run a project to train debt workers in FIF funded bureaux in Yorkshire and Humberside and the North East to deliver financial capability training.

Ten Citizens Advice Bureaux were recruited for the pilot: Bradford, Hull, Grimsby, Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Redcar, Sheffield, Stockton and Wansbeck. These bureaux seconded debt caseworkers to work on the project until the middle of 2009.

Financial capability pilot evaluation report

Through the project the ten bureaux:

Main outcomes

The training courses brought together organisations who built links and shared experiences. Working together improved referral arrangements between organisations and strengthened links with bureaux specialist money advice services. It also helped front line workers to offer a timely response to people in need of debt advice or financial capability support.

Due to the high current demand for debt advice, BIS have decided to direct resources to face to face debt services. However, several of the bureaux who participated are continuing with some type of financial capability work.