Description of the programme
The Money Advice Service commissioned the National Skills Academy for Financial Services (NSAFS) to deliver the Local Authority Financial Capability Training Programme. The project took place between January and August 2018, and it involved NSAFS working with four local authorities to co-design and deliver a tailored training course with practitioners supporting vulnerable children and young people. NSAFS delivered a course at each of the local authorities during June and July. The courses focused on improving practitioners’ confidence and practice in providing financial capability support to young people aged 11 to 16 within early intervention services. 38 practitioners across the four local authorities took part in the co-design process, and 43 practitioners attended the one-day training course.
The study
The Money Advice Service commissioned Rocket Science UK to undertake the evaluation of the programme. The study involved both a process and outcomes evaluation, which Rocket Science UK investigated through a pre- and post-course survey of practitioners, as well as follow-up interviews with practitioners who attended the training. Rocket Science UK also drew on research and materials such as write-ups of design sessions that were produced by NSAFS.
Key findings
Outcomes evaluation
The main findings relating to the outcomes of the programme were:
- A collaborative approach to designing the programme led to improved practice. In particular, the study found that two factors were important for success: co-designing the programme with the right practitioners, and having a clear link to the local authority’s strategic objectives.
- The majority of practitioners who attended the course felt that it had at least some impact on their capacity to deliver financial capability support to young people. They also reported that the course enabled them to more accurately assess young people’s financial abilities. However, the study found that these outcomes were not uniform across all local authorities, and they were linked to the variation in how people experienced the course.
- Practitioners were most likely to report that as a result of the course, they had a greater awareness of, and access to, financial capability related resources.
- Practitioners also valued learning about how to introduce the topic of money management to young people, including different ways of teaching it, stripping it back to the basics, embedding it within pre-existing practice, and understanding and addressing knowledge gaps.
- Many practitioners reported that they envisaged future uses for what they had learnt on the course, and this mostly centred on the effective use of the resources that the course had introduced to them.
- Less than a quarter of the practitioners had been able to work with a young person aged 11-16 since they completed the training. Of those that had, almost all felt that the training had some positive impact on the support that they provided.
- Practitioners reported that young people had increased knowledge relating to financial capability as a result of the training. Some practitioners also noted positive changes in young people’s mindsets.
Process evaluation
The main findings relating to the process evaluation were:
- Although the local authority leads said they had a positive experience working with NSAFS, the tight timescales for programme design and having the training delivery during holidays limited the number and level of practitioners that engaged in either the co-design process or the course.
- The co-design approach was successful. Practitioners involved in the process said that they felt listened to, and their views and ideas were incorporated.
- Different methods of selecting attendees for the courses directly affected who went to each course. The evaluators found that the course needs to be clearly framed within the strategic objectives of the local authority and the specific services, to engage more practitioners.
- Practitioners from all four local authorities thought that the course was relevant. However, many practitioners felt that the course could be more tailored and linked to their day-to-day work.
Points to consider
Methodological limitations:
- Only nine of the practitioners that completed the follow-up interviews had worked with people aged 11-16 in relation to financial capability in the one month between completing the training and the interview.
- The findings relating to the impact of the training on a young person’s financial capability, attitude and behaviours was based on their practitioner’s observations, rather than directly from the young person. The evaluators did not use tools to assess the impact of the training on the young person.
