The Centre for Financial Capability heads to Downing Street to call for sustainable funding for financial education

Earlier this week representatives and members of The Centre for Financial Capability headed to Downing Street to hand in a letter to No.10 and No.11 signed by key stakeholders across the financial education and services sector calling for greater funding for high-quality and effective financial education through the Government’s Dormant Assets scheme.

The letter was signed by 16 key stakeholders across the financial education and services industry, including the Association of British Insurers, GoHenry, Hargreaves Lansdown, The Money Charity, Quilter, TISA, RedStart and Young Enterprise. The letter was addressed to the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for DCMS, whose Department is overseeing the scheme, and urged for a substantial proportion of the unclaimed money from dormant accounts to be used to fund financial education for primary aged children.

The letter also outlined industry’s “significant interest” in the Dormant Assets Bill, as many “recognise the urgency and importance of providing young people with financial literacy skills to ensure the rights habits are formed early and that they can then take these with them into adulthood.” Research undertaken by the Money and Pensions Service has shown that attitudes towards money are formed as young as seven, proving that financial education provided at a young age is vital for future financial capability. Even before the pandemic, 11.5 million people already had less than £100 in savings, and up to 14.5 million people were classified as living in poverty.

The passing of the Dormant Assets Bill means that the Dormant Assets Scheme will be expanded and an additional £880 million of unclaimed assets will be released. This will be used to fund social and environmental causes, including supporting young people, financial inclusion and social investment.

This letter hand-in to No.10 and 11 took place following The Financial Education Summit, sponsored by John Penrose MP and supported by the Centre for Financial Capability, which called attention to the importance of implementing financial education in primary schools, to meet the larger goal of increasing financial resilience throughout adulthood and combatting poverty. The summit focused on highlighting the necessity of early financial education and presented to both parliamentarians and financial education stakeholders the UK-specific challenges school children face regarding financial literacy. [ST2] The Summit was chaired by Carol Knight, Chief Executive of TISA and Trustee of The Centre. Panellists included John Penrose MP, Stewart Perry, Head of Responsible Business and member of The Centre and John Craven, Chief Executive of upReach.

Member of The Centre for Financial Capability and Head of Responsible Business at Quilter, Stewart Perry said:  

“It was fantastic to attend this letter hand-in at Downing Street and also be a panellist speaker at The Financial Education Summit. As a member of The Centre, I very much recognise the importance of ensuring sustainable funding for financial education and believe the Dormant Assets Scheme is a common sense way for industry to work with Government to ensure every child in the UK has access to the necessary financial skills to equip them for later life.”