PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Financial Services: Education (6 March 2018)

In a recent submission to the Department for Education consultation on the future of PSHE education the Just Finance Foundation set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury reported that 40% of UK adults have less than £100 in savings and struggled to manage money. The impact of potential lifelong indebtedness makes financial capability an issue of pressing importance for younger generations. The Church of England approached this through the foundation of an education programme called LifeSavers.

LifeSavers was designed to practically demonstrate­ how schools can weave financial education throughout the teaching and life of the school in a way that is sustainable. Funding has currently has enabled the scheme to operate in 70 schools with a further 50 next year. Half of the number of LifeSavers schools operate in Church of England schools and more than 15,600­­­ pupils have already taken part in LifeSavers, and over 1,200 teachers have been trained through its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme. ­The results seen by the Just Finance Foundation to their projects has led them to press the Department for Education to put financial education on an equal footing within the PSHE curriculum.