Description of the programme
Funded by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), ‘Save Xmas’ was a campaign aimed at raising awareness of saving for key events such as Christmas. It was developed following the collapse of the ‘Farepak’ Christmas savings club. Its specific objectives were to:
- Raise awareness of the need to save early for Christmas
- Increase confidence and knowledge about different saving options
The campaign ran between 2007 and 2011, and was particularly targeted at:
- Those who are ‘financially excluded’ (i.e. those lacking access to mainstream financial products such as bank accounts and low-cost loans);
- Women aged between 30 and 50;
- Those on low incomes and in receipt of benefits; and
- Those who are ‘financially disengaged’ (not attended financial training in the previous year).
The Save Xmas campaign comprised of face-to-face training sessions delivered to participants through intermediary organisations e.g. Citizens Advice Bureaux, Sure Start, housing associations, community and religious groups. The sessions were supported by leaflets, trainer toolkits and free downloadable resources. In the second year the programme also involved roadshows in shopping centres and supermarkets in 33 towns and cities, and local press & radio coverage. The campaign was estimated to have reached between 44,000 and 118,000 people between 2007 and 2009.
The study
An independent impact evaluation of the programme was undertaken by Ipsos MORI. It evaluated two cohorts of Save Xmas participants, involving:
- A post-training feedback form completed by 1,376 participants in year one and 2,667 in year two;
- 149 follow up telephone interviews amongst year one participants and 94 follow-up telephone interviews amongst year two participants 6-12 months after receiving the training;
- A second follow-up telephone survey amongst 101 years one participants some 18-22 months after receiving their initial training; and
- 2,105 interviews on a nationally representative omnibus to provide benchmarks on attitudes to saving and saving behaviour and allow GB-wide comparisons.
The evaluation also included feedback forms completed by trainers in year one and year two and qualitative depth research amongst 10 end users from year two.
Key findings
The two-year evaluation found positive changes in relation to the following outcomes:
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Financial behaviour:
- Four in ten (43%) year one participants said they had changed their saving habits (which included budgeting and planning better and starting or increasing saving) in the year following the training.
- The proportion of year one participants using bank and building society savings accounts increased from half (50%) before training to over seven in ten (72%) in the second follow-up survey. The proportion using credit union savings accounts more than doubled, going from 11% before training to 26% by the second follow-up.
- Following the training 44% of year one participants said they were doing a better job of managing their money leading up to Christmas this year compared with the previous year.
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Financial capability (mindset):
- Seven in ten year one participants said they felt more confident about how to save as a result of the session in the first follow-up survey.
- Around 8 in 10 (83%) of year two participants said they would tell their family and friends what they had learnt from the training.
- At the second follow-up survey, 94% of year one participants said they found it useful to receive information or advice on different ways to save in the current economic climate, compared to 64% nationally.
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Financial capability (ability):
- One year after training 61% of year one participants said they ‘knew a lot’ about the different ways of saving for Christmas, up from 12% before training.
- One year after training 84% of year one participants said they knew at least ‘knew just a little’ about credit union savings account, up from 50% prior to training.
The second follow-up survey with end users suggested that certain changes in behaviour, knowledge, and confidence levels were sustained over the medium and long term. The Save Xmas campaign successfully reached people with low levels of knowledge and take-up of saving options. The above findings were supported by qualitative research with a small number of participants, and the vast majority (over 90%) found the training useful.
What are the costs?
The OFT received initial funding of £1 million from HM Treasury as part of the Government’s response to the Farepak collapse.
Points to consider
Methodological limitations:
- The evaluation was only conducted with participants of the Save Xmas training sessions and not those visiting the roadshow events.
- Some questions differed slightly between year one and year two feedback forms meaning that these results could not be aggregated, or comparisons drawn over time.
- Due to the nature of the evaluation it was not possible to select a random sample for follow-up research, or to establish how the profile of those interviewed differs from that of all end users and to take account of non-response bias.
Full report
Office of Fair Trading’s ‘Save Xmas campaign - full report
