Youth Checkpoints pilot

About the Money and Pensions Service

Set up by government, the Money and Pensions Service creates one organisation from the three respected government-sponsored bodies of financial guidance: The Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service, and Pension Wise. This brings together for the first time the provision of debt advice, money guidance and pensions guidance. Our vision is Everyone making the most of their money and pensions.

We are an arm’s-length body, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, with a joint commitment to ensuring that people throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime. We deliver this across five core functions.

The Money and Pensions Service is funded by levies on both the financial services industry and pension schemes.

About young adults’ money-management

Across the UK, many young adults find it difficult to manage money. Our research shows that 58% of young adults aged 18-24 (3m people) with bills or credit commitments struggle to keep up, are falling behind, or have fallen behind with their commitments; 51% (2.9m) feel that thinking about their financial situation makes them anxious; 23% (1.3m) often use a credit card, overdraft or borrow money to buy food or pay bills because they have run short of money; 20% of young adults aged 18-24 (1.2m) often borrow from friends and family because they have run out of money; 20% (1.2m) with a current account are often overdrawn on their account; and 17% (1m) rarely or never save.

We want to improve young adults’ ability to make the most of their money by helping them improve their day-to-day money management and by building their financial resilience (their ability to withstand financial shocks).

Youth Checkpoints

Young adults have the lowest financial capability, the lowest financial confidence, and the lowest financial resilience of all age groups, with particular challenges around understanding and managing credit, and they can face difficult transitions to independence. However, evidence shows that focusing on ‘teachable moments’ can improve financial capability outcomes. There is therefore a need to increase access to good quality money guidance to help smooth their transitions and prepare young adults to manage their money and build financial resilience as they become financially independent.

We are therefore seeking to test ways of embedding money information and guidance within employability and independent living support and related services for young adults at key moments of transition, bringing money guidance to where people already are.

As part of our 2019/20 Business Plan, the Money and Pensions Service will therefore fund the development and delivery of a ‘Youth Checkpoints’ model, to bring together key players (including, for example, youth practitioners, employers, jobcentres, apprenticeship training providers, Further and Higher Education institutions, etc.) to embed and integrate high-quality money information and guidance into existing support at key ‘checkpoints’ on young adults’ journeys to financial independence.

The pilots will focus on the following ‘checkpoints’:

1. Entering the workplace
2. Accessing welfare
3. Entering or graduating from college/university

We will establish four pilot projects in 2019/20 – one in each nation – providing support and resources to partners to coordinate provision and embed money management support within services, via a channel mix.

We are seeking potential delivery partners for this pilot.

We have made available £100,000 for each pilot (inclusive of evaluation costs).

Partners must:

• Reach at least 2,500 post-school young adults (can be more) by the end of 2019/20
• Target 18-24 year olds in the main (although can include 16-17 year olds, but not exclusively or predominantly so)
• Target the financially Squeezed segment in whole or in part, and even Cushioned (but not exclusively or predominately Struggling) – see our segmentation
• Co-design an approach with partners related to a specific young adults’ transition point and measure its impact
• Include target young adults in codesign partnership, if feasible
• Seek outcomes related to managing credit and/or building a savings buffer (this can include taking out insurance too)
• Complete delivery and evaluation by the end of March 2020

Next steps

We are holding an engagement event on 15^th May at 11-1.30pm at Money Advice Scotland, Suite 410, Pentagon Centre, 36 Washington Street, Glasgow, G3 8AZ,to brief potential delivery partners in advance of invitations to tender, to answer any questions and discuss the pilot in more detail, seeking stakeholders’ expertise and feedback, and to provide opportunity for potential delivery partners to explore any partnership opportunities.

A light lunch will be provided. Please reserve your place and let us know of any dietary requirements by emailing david.marjoribanks@moneyadviceservice.org.uk

If you would like any further information on this project please contact david.marjoribanks@moneyadviceservice.org.uk or allison.barnes@moneyadviceservice.org.uk