Guidance for Children and Young People Services
MaPS have developed a financial wellbeing Guidance and Toolkit for Children and Young People’s Services. The guide will support professionals working with children and young people, with the overarching aim of improving their financial wellbeing through good quality financial education. The aim is to help local authorities and other children’s services staff, working with children and young people in vulnerable circumstances, embed opportunities for learning about money into the support they provide. ThIs can include, care-experienced young people, young people with mental or physical health needs, young people at risk of homelessness, young carers, and many others. Research shows that these children and young people may be at risk of having low levels of financial wellbeing and may need targeted financial education and guidance due to their circumstances.
MaPS have also developed a toolkit for practitioners across the UK, with tips on good practice and signposting to resources and services that can support them to talk to children and young people about money, deliver informal financial education and support access to money guidance. Please click here to view the guidance and toolkit.
Money Helper Financial Wellbeing Campaign
We know that our collective financial circumstances will be further impacted over Autumn and Winter, so we’re hoping to help as many people as possible feel as in control as they can to avoid or minimise the effects of the cost-of-living crisis. According to the ONS, around 91% of adults have reported a rising cost of living in comparison to this time last year, causing a surge of new money worries and concerns about their financial future. This is for you, whether you’ve been caught off guard by higher bills and payments, uncertain income or the loss of a job.
We’ll take a thematic approach to introduce the tools available to everyone through the Government’s Money Helper Service and how you as professionals can sit alongside those who need support to use them.
We’ve put together a six-week Financial Wellbeing campaign in partnership with the Money and Pensions Service to help you and the communities you support to find your way forward and enable people to take the first step towards getting on top of things.
Money Helper: Find your way Forward
Money Helper is here to help you find your way forward by making the most of your available income. If your income or hours have been reduced or you're feeling the squeeze because of higher living costs, Money Helper is here to help. Their tools and guidance can help you to understand your true financial situation, make a budget, work out how to boost your income by understanding the benefits or entitlements available, including ways to cut back or reduce outgoings. Click the video above for more information on the Find Your Way Forward Campaign.
Money Helper offers a wealth of existing money and pensions guidance that may be valuable for you, your organisation and stakeholders. Their easy-to-use tools and calculators can help you make a budget, save and cut back on costs. Click some of the available tools and calculators below:
Struggling with bills and payments
Are you or someone you support struggling to stay on top of your bills and payments? It can be difficult to manage all the different bills and payments in our lives and not paying off some bills before others can be more serious. That's why Money Helper has created the Bill Prioritiser, an effective, easy to use online tool to help you prioritise your bills and payments. Choose the bills you're worried about and get help on how to deal with them and which ones to tackle first.
First, select which bills you're worried about, such as your rent, Council Tax, credit cards or utility bills. Then get guidance on which bills or payments you need to tackle first so you have clear steps to take right away. They also help you understand what extra support is available that you might not have been aware of before, to help you manage bills or payments.
The Bill Prioritiser can help you sort your bills and payments in the right order and tell you what you need to do if you’re struggling.
Click below for help if you're struggling with bills and payments.
Living on a Squeezed Income
If you have strains on your finances and these have been further affected by what’s going on in your life right now, there could be ways to make your income go further. If your income or hours have been reduced or you're feeling the squeeze because of higher living costs, the Government’s Money Helper can help you find ways cut back costs and see what extra help is available. Read on to find out more about how to access the support offered by Money Helper.
Money Helper is here if your hours or income have been cut. Their tools and guidance can help you understand your true financial situation, make a budget and work out how to boost your income. By understanding the benefits or entitlements available, Money Helper can help you cut back or your reduce outgoings. If your income has drastically reduced, for example, due to a job loss or illness and you're now getting Universal Credit on a very low income, you might be able to get extra government help to support you.
There are also a range of online budgeting tools such as the Budget Planner, which can help you track your spending, find ways of cutting back and save money where you can. There are also a number of budgeting apps available on your phone, and many mobile banking apps offer budgeting tools to help you understand where your money is going.
If you're living on a squeezed income, click here or below to find out what support is available for you.
Financial Support for the Self Employed
Learn to manage irregular earnings and stay on top of tax and National Insurance through tools and resources provided by Money Helper. Using their website, you can find out what benefits are available to boost income and understand why it's important to pay into a pension and get the right insurance to protect your income and assets.
Click below to access their tolls and resources:
- How to start a business or become self employed
- Business insurance when you are self employed
- How to fill in a Self Assessment tax return
If you're self-employed, one of the largest costs every year will be paying your income tax and National Insurance bill, so it’s important you plan for how you’re going to pay it. Click the video for guidance towards budgeting on your tax bill when you’re self-employed.
Coping Financially with Job loss and Redundancy
Are you facing job loss or redundancy? With Money Helper, you can find out what your rights are, see if you qualify for redundancy pay, explore benefits that are available and make a plan for when your job ends. They're here to help you find your way forward.
Losing your job is stressful at the best of times, so it’s important you understand your rights and how to get help. Your employer must treat you fairly and follow certain procedures. It’s important you understand the process, what alternatives you have and where you can get help and advice if you need it. They're here to help you find your way forward.
Money Helper has put together some easy-to-read guidance to help you through this tough time. Click below or here or access their resources.
Money Guiders
Money guidance is often given as part of wider services provided by thousands of diverse organisations and practitioners.
If you talk to people about money, the Money Guiders programme is here for you.
Money & Pension Service have created a Money Guiders programme for individuals and organisations who provide any type of non-regulated money guidance to individuals or groups. Their aim is to raise the status and profile of money guidance and the quality of it’s delivery.
The Money Guidance Competency Framework sets out the core competencies needed to provide a safe, quality service for customers. It will help you think more clearly and carefully when providing money guidance and can give you confidence that you’re doing the right thing by your customers and improve the conversations you have about money. How you use the framework is completely up to you, click here or below for some suggestions.
You can also access the Money Guider Network for a wealth of free resources including webinars, workshops, meetings, discussion groups to help support those delivering money guidance, whatever their role. Check out the Money Guider Networks Calendar for all latest events and activities, plus details of each nation's networks leads organisations.
The Money Advisor Network
The Money Advisor Network is a service that helps you access free, confidential and independent debt advice. The network brings together some of the country's best-known debt advise providers so you can access free, confidential and independent debt advice straight away. All debt advice services in the network hold a standard or membership accredited by Money Helper and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Everything you share within the Money Advisor Network is completely safe and private.
The Money Advisor Network will help you to:
- Understand your financial situation
- Create a personalised budget
- Draw up a practical action plan
Click here to find out more and join the network.
How to include Money Guidance or Social Welfare Legal Advice within your Social Prescribing Offer
Social prescribing link workers, funded through NHS England’s Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, provide holistic, non-clinical support to your patients. Including money guidance or social welfare legal advice in your social prescribing offer can have a positive impact on your patients, practice, network and system. The National Academy of Social Prescribing and the Money and Pension's Service have been working collaboratively to produce a guide that explains why including support for money issues within social prescribing is important.
The guide is for Clinical Directors, Primary Care Network Managers, commissioners, and decision makers across systems and includes quotes from two organisations who are successfully delivering money guidance and social welfare legal advice.
Click here to download the guide.