Financial Skills for Life

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Our mission

At Citizens Advice we know that having the financial skills to make informed decisions at key points in life can mean the difference between a secure future and a desperate struggle.

Financial Skills for Life is the national financial capability programme of Citizens Advice. We support local Citizens Advice Bureaux and their partners to deliver educational initiatives that help people avoid unmanageable debt and other money problems. This work builds on our position as a trusted provider of money advice, information and policy influence.

Financial capability session at Bury St Edmunds Citizens Advice Bureau.

Our mission is:

• to help people develop their skills and confidence to avoid financial crisis.

We want everyone to have the knowledge, skills and confidence to make informed decisions around budgeting, borrowing, saving and banking. Especially adults on low incomes or at risk of social or financial exclusion.

Our strategy

Citizens Advice Bureaux deliver high-quality financial skills programmes to people in the heart of their communities. They help clients head off debt problems, access government help and use financial services. They also equip people to budget effectively, avoid poor deals and improve their savings position.

Over the last eight years we have worked intensively with Prudential plc as our key partner. We have found out  what works and shared our grassroots experience with national, regional and local policy-makers and partners. We have also trebled the number of bureaux providing financial education.

Our own Financial Skills for Life steering group brings together our major funders, academic expertise and senior Money Advice Service and Treasury officials to help guide our work.

At least 280 bureaux are now using their community links and financial expertise to help improve the financial skills of at least a quarter of a million people each year. It’s our ambition to see all 377 bureaux in England and Wales providing some level of financial capability service. We also want to keep improving our services and encouraging collaboration within the financial skills community.

Prudential’s unique long-standing substantial commitment to our work will help us achieve this.