Money management for young parents

In partnership with ColgeauCymru/CollegesWales

Focus group members

City & County of Swansea, Coleg Glan Hafren, Deeside College, Merthyr Learning Centre.

Aim

To help improve financial confidence and self-esteem among young parents by developing a tailored course with practical application to their personal lives, particularly in managing home finances.

Background

The target group comprised married parents, partners, and single parents all receiving benefits and with children of a wide range of ages.

Action

The focus group carried out research questionnaires to find out how the learners felt about managing their money. The results were used to develop a course designed to promote knowledge-sharing and discussion on different spending habits and approaches to handling money. This was identified as the most productive form of learning for the group.

Money for Life courses were offered alongside existing initiatives designed to increase learners’ skills and encourage them into Further Education as a means of gaining sustainable employment in the future. Also to work with individuals actively seeking employment to help them overcome barriers to work and to secure jobs.

Outcome

Feedback has been extremely positive, with some learners setting themselves saving goals, and others reporting that they felt more in control of their spending. Some even found they had more spare money because of following the advice offered through the sessions.

Exercises included The Power of Packaging, designed to teach learners the extent to which labels influence purchasing choices, and a shopping basket exercise illustrating the price difference between value and premium goods. Price comparison websites were also used as a valuable resource, while case studies were used to promote discussion.

The success of the course lay in the fact that it was largely designed by the learners to suit their needs. As a result, learners engaged with the material and were able to apply it to their personal circumstances. This is a model the focus group feels has the potential to work well across the Money for Life programme.

Testimonial

Claire James, learner at Merthyr Learning Centre
“Money is tight and I need to think before I buy and understand the difference between a ‘want’ and a ‘need’. The course has helped me be more aware of my spending and compare prices effectively. Buying on credit was really interesting and working out the APR on financial products was very revealing.”