Youth work leaders back calls for financial training for young people

An independent group of cross-sector leaders have published key recommendations to address the urgent financial wellbeing of 16- to 24-year-olds facing severe implications of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Challenge Group: Financial Foundations, chaired by Ndidi Okezie, chief executive of UK Youth, says its long-term national goal is to ensure that two million more children and young people can receive meaningful financial education.

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Latest government statistics show that 581,000 16- to 24-year-olds were unemployed between June and August this year - an increase of 35,000 from the previous quarter.

Young people are two-and-a-half times more likely than people in older age groups to work in a sector hit by Covid-19, UK Youth said.

The Challenge Group, created by the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) brought in to develop the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing, calls on all four UK governments to invest in essential financial skills training for young people.

It recommends that MaPS work with young people to design a financial skills programme for 16- to 24-year-olds to prepare them for and entering the workplace.

MaPS should also work with governments across the UK, and major employers, training providers and apprenticeship bodies to ensure the programme is fit for purpose, the group states in its Building the UK’s financial wellbeing in the light of Covid-19 report.

It is also calling for a three-phased awareness programme to ensure that young people are financially protected.

This should start “as soon as possible in 2020 to help and support people to address immediate financial issues and topics in the run-up to Christmas”, the report adds.

MaPS should also develop conversation support tools to help families facing the combined challenges of money and mental health problems, drawing upon proven ‘Talk, Learn, Do’ techniques previously piloted by the service, states a third recommendation.

Okezie said: “We already know that the pandemic has had far-reaching implications on the wellbeing and life chances of millions of children and young people. 

“We have a collective duty to act now and ensure there is far better coordinated access to financial literacy, support tools, employment opportunities and overall mental health resilience. 

“Our Covid response recommendations are not “nice to haves” they are critical, they are urgent and they must be implemented with this continued cross-sector approach to working.” 

• CYP Now is running the Youth Work in the 2020s conference from 2-5 November.