The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People have released a report, shining a light on the challenges faced by teachers and schools and makes recommendations as to how to best implement an effective financial education.  

 The new report explores how financial education in schools can be strengthened and, crucially, shines a light on some of the key barriers faced by teachers as they deliver provision.  

Across the UK, there are large numbers of young people who lack the knowledge, skills and behaviours to manage their money well. 55,000 children aged 11-16 are problem gamblers and the number of young people being exploited by criminals as ‘money mules’ is increasing.1 This has a significant negative impact on their ability to navigate an increasingly complex financial world, build resilience against economic shocks and avoid falling victim to scams and bad debt. 

Lack of financial capability is an issue that is echoed across the rest of the population, with 45% of adults saying they do not feel confident managing money.2 

According to research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and GoHenry, prioritising financial education could add an extra £6.98bn to the UK economy each year, equivalent to £202bn by 2050.3 This offers a powerful illustration of the economic, as well as the moral, argument for ensuring that our young people leave the education system equipped with financial literacy. 

However, for teachers to deliver high-quality financial education to the young people in their care, what’s clear is that they need more support. This support comes in the form of both structural and practical interventions and remedies, which if implemented, can mark a step change in the financial capability of our youngest generations for years to come. 

One of this APPG’s recommendations is also an effective communications campaign to raise awareness among practitioners of existing curriculum requirements to help recognise the importance and positive impact of building financial capability in young people. 

Crucially, the report gives a voice to the teachers at the forefront of delivery and the perspectives and experiences they have shared across a wide range of contexts, including primary and secondary settings.  

This inquiry has shone a light on the challenges faced by schools and teachers so we can see clearly how best to deliver financial education in the curriculum. To progress the report’s findings, we need to take action to illustrate the rationale and benefits of teaching financial education in schools, including at primary age and support those delivering that education.  

As findings of our report are released, the APPG calls on stakeholders to work together to consider the evidence and advance the report’s recommendations.  

Michaela Wright, Head of Corporate Sustainability, HSBC UK said: 

“Evidence tells us that children’s attitudes about money are well developed by the age of seven. So, starting early really matters, and involving parents and teachers can help bring learning to life. 

HSBC UK has a long history of supporting youth financial education. Last year we reached over 400,000 young people through our support for the Money Heroes programme, the Money Skills Activity Badge with the Scouts, and our colleague volunteer network.” 

Sharon Davies, CEO of Young Enterprise, Secretariat to the APPG said:  

“We know that many teachers want to help their pupils learn about money because they believe it’s a key life skill they will need in adulthood. This APPG report crucially gives those teachers a voice and it’s those shared experiences and perspectives which are key to moving the dial and improving the financial education all young people receive.  

What’s clear from the report’s findings, is that more support is needed and that this support should be both structural and practical including improving the accessibility and availability of financial education training to all teachers. It’s also clear that we need to raise awareness on the presence of financial education in the curriculum as the report shows many teachers are unsure whether they have a statutory duty to deliver financial education in their lessons. 

The wider economic benefits of implementing financial education are clear so there’s no better time to break down the barriers to delivering it than now. That’s what this APPG report is calling for and I look forward to continuing to work with others to progress this vital issue in the coming months.” 

Download the Report 

Why impact is so important to Young Enterprise

We LOVE hearing from young people who have taken part in our programmes and challenges, as well as from our inspirational volunteers and educators:

“It gave me the opportunity to do something I wouldn’t normally have the chance to do and gave me a real insight into the many parts of business and how they work.” Company Programme participant 

“I love the fact that I had the opportunity especially before GCSEs to look at jobs and their specifications. I now know to budget and how much the average job pays.” Learn to Earn participant

“It was really fun and taught us a lot about managing money and I learnt stuff I didn’t know, if I have £10 and want to get 10 things, I have to try and fit them in my budget and not ask my mum for more money.” Money Heroes participant

We celebrate all of the positive feedback we receive, like the examples above, and we measure our impact in lots of other ways too.

In fact, we have a responsibility at Young Enterprise to be clear about the overall impacts we want to achieve and to effectively measure how well we are doing, plus we are keen to learn from things that do not work as well as we expect.

Having a well-evidenced and balanced understanding of our impact at Young Enterprise helps us stay true to our purpose and goals, as well as helping us to continually improve our opportunities and support.

The impacts we want to achieve

Young Enterprise is extremely proud in 2023 to be celebrating 60 years of transforming young people’s futures, during which time 7.2 million young people have engaged in our financial and enterprise education programmes and services.

Throughout our history, we have provided young people with support and opportunities through ‘learning by doing’ – experiences they might not otherwise have access to – helping young people to reach their full potential.

Our current ‘No Time Like the Future’ Strategy has seen us prioritise our resources to support young people and educators in underserved communities and those with less access to opportunities, while also continuing to offer access to opportunities for all.

Our Vision is, “Every young person has the opportunity to learn the vital skills and enterprising mindset needed to earn and look after their money and make a positive contribution to their community.”

How we measure impact at Young Enterprise

We begin 2023 with the creation of a new department at Young Enterprise dedicated to Impact and Insight, reflecting how important these two areas are to our plans.

Some aspects of impact measurement at Young Enterprise have been in place for a long time:

• Young Enterprise already has well-established processes for recording how many young people, educators, schools and other organisations take part in our programmes, as well as learning about which parts they particularly like and which parts they would change.
• We use surveys plus more targeted in-depth research to measure changes in young people’s knowledge, skills and attitudes over time, and this evidence gives confidence to schools and funding partners about what participants achieve.
• Moving beyond individual programmes, we are increasingly tracking the journeys of the same groups of young people over time, measuring the benefits of reinforced learning from accessing Young Enterprise opportunities at multiple points during their educational pathways.

There are other areas of impact measurement that we will be developing further between now and 2030:

• We will be staying in touch with young people who are taking their next steps out of formal education and training, an especially important period for young people to draw on their Young Enterprise experiences.
• We will be refining how we measure our impact in underserved communities, and we are already beginning to do this through initiatives like Project IF (Inspiring Futures), which offers a mix of funded support options for schools in eligible parts of the country.
• We will be working closely with young people, educators, volunteers and other partners to collaboratively develop how Young Enterprise approaches measurement in the future.

Find out more

Young Enterprise’s organisational theory of change is published on our website which transparently sets out our purpose, goals and how we define our high-level impacts.

We also have a considerable bank of impact stories which provide real-life examples of how our work makes a difference.

For more information, please contact Andrew Berry, Head of Impact and Insights at Young Enterprise