Digital Money Coaches

Overview

Citizens Advice has been awarded funding by SSE to develop and test a new Digital Money Coach role to support clients to embed financially capable habits and behaviours.

The project runs for a period of 12 months until the end of March 2016 and 5 local Citizens Advice are taking part.

The Digital Money Coach role

Digital Money Coaches support clients in three key areas:

  • Enabling clients to take action and build habits that will improve their financial capability and build resilience to future financial shocks.

  • Providing practical, hands-on support that improves the client’s digital capability and computer skills, particularly those that will enable them to manage the transition to Universal Credit.

  • Taking action to reduce the proportion of client's household income spent on energy.

The project will test the capacity of volunteers to deliver the Digital Money Coach role. The role is intended to be flexible and be based on client need.

The Digital Money Coach will also offer follow up support, either face-to-face or by text, telephone or email. This follow up is an integral part of the Digital Money Coach role, nudging clients to continue with their action plan, identifying barriers, offering additional help when needed and providing the more intensive level of support some clients will require to successfully embed financially capable habits and behaviours.

With all these activities the emphasis is action oriented; working with the client to identify what they want to accomplish and then working with them to provide the skills and knowledge they need to achieve their goals.

Monitoring and evaluation

In order for us to understand the value of the Digital Money Coach role, the project includes a substantial element of monitoring and evaluation.

The overall question being asked is:

  • Does access to a Digital Money Coach lead to improvement in client outcomes around financial capability, digital capability and fuel poverty?

Subsequent questions being explored are:

  • What leads to improved client engagement with the Digital Money Coach?

  • What aspects of the Digital Money Coach assists clients to complete agreed actions around financial capability, digital capability and fuel poverty?

  • What is the experience of incorporating the Digital Money Coach like for local offices?

Further information

Please contact financial.skills@citizensadvice.org.uk.