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The UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing is taking forward the work of the Financial Capability Strategy Opens in a new window

The Financial Capability Lab

The Financial Capability Lab

Almost 1 in 4 adults in the UK are financially squeezed. We need new thinking that will help more people make the most of their money.

In 2016, The Money Advice Service (MAS), in partnership with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) and Ipsos MORI, created the Financial Capability Lab to generate and rapidly test new, behaviourally informed ideas to solve some of the most important money challenges facing people in the UK.

From challenges to solutions

The Lab used BIT’s online experimentation platform Predictiv to understand financial behaviour and rapidly test ideas that can improve decision making. Predictiv does this by running randomised controlled trials with an online population of participants, drawn from a sample of over 200,000 adults across the UK. Ipsos Mori conducted qualitative research through focus groups, workshops and interviews to help us explore ideas in depth.

Financial Capability Lab

Reports

If you are interested in learning about the ideas we tested and what we found, please download our Financial Capability Lab Report.

For more detail, please see our supplementary Detailed Findings Report.

Next steps

The current phase of the programme involves working with a range of delivery partners to develop some of the most promising ideas into field pilots – delivering and evaluating the effectiveness of these solutions with their customers or employees.

To date, we have engaged with a range partners and a number of trials are underway:

  • Financial First Aider – an idea which involves training employees to offer basic guidance to their colleagues and signpost them to other source of information and support.
  • Smarter Signposting (Guidance that is Right On Time) – to test ways of encouraging people to access guidance and advice by using data to identify who might benefit from it most.
  • An interactive slider (Increasing Credit Card Repayments) – aimed at encouraging customers to increase their credit card repayments by showing them the impact of higher repayments on the total amount they will need to repay.

During the course of 2020/21 and continuing into 2021/22 we will evaluate these ideas and develop a plan for working with partners to roll out those that prove to be most effective in helpful consumers. All of the evidence will be shared through our Evidence Hub.

Get in touch

If you would like to talk to us about how you can help take these ideas forward, please do get in touch.

Gwen Nisbet, Financial Capability Lab Lead for The Money and Pensions Service

E: gwen.nisbet@maps.org.uk

Max Mawby, Project Manager for the Behavioural Insights Team

E: alasdair.smith@bi.team

For press and media, contact:

Ben Walker, What Works Communications Lead for The Money and Pensions Service

E: ben.walker@maps.org.uk

Ross Haig, Head of Communications for the Behavioural Insights Team

E: ross.haig@bi.team