Evaluation Scotland Wales
The UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing is taking forward the work of the Financial Capability Strategy
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Our research tells us that people in Wales tend to be slightly more likely than the UK average to be struggling to keep up

Wales Strategy

View this page in Welsh / Edrychwch ar y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

The Financial Capability Strategy for Wales is aimed at all key stakeholders including the Welsh and UK Governments, local authorities, housing associations, advice providers, banks, utility companies, community organisations and tackling poverty programmes. The Wales Financial Capability Strategy has links across the Welsh Government’s wider policy environment with particular alignment to the Welsh Government’s revised Financial Inclusion Strategy.

Our research tells us that people in Wales tend to be slightly more likely than the UK average to be struggling to keep up. Overall very similar proportions are actually falling behind in Wales (10%), in comparison to the UK (11%).

24% of the UK say they are keeping up with all bills and commitments, but it is a struggle from time to time, compared with 23% in Wales.

People in Wales were:

  • less likely than the UK average to say they adjust their spending on non-essentials when their life changes
  • slightly less likely than the UK average to say they prefer to live for today rather than plan for tomorrow
  • slightly more likely to say that it is important to save for a rainy day.

In Wales we are calling on organisations to work together to ensure that we:

  • increase consistency of financial education in all learning environments targeting learners of all ages and those that support and teach them
  • evaluate financial capability interventions in Wales in a way that allows us to create a benchmark and compare interventions and identify what works well
  • increase and share the learning of interventions that help people build financial resilience
  • increase the uptake of money advice services for all individuals, with a specific focus on families with children and older people.

More detailed analysis focusing on the evidence, needs and priorities for each life-stage and feedback from stakeholders can be found in the Wales Financial Capability Strategy. You can view the Money Advice Service (MAS) Financial Capability Wales Survey report on the MAS website.

More information on the Welsh Government’s Financial Inclusion strategy can be found on the GOV.wales website.

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