Money Trainers

Bromley by Bow Centre

Generously supported by

This is Canary Wharf

This is the Olympic Stadium

This is Bromley by Bow

Where is this?

This is Charles Booth

He was a social researcher

In 1889 he created a poverty map of London

One of the hotspots of deprivation was Bromley by Bow

It still is

This is Bromley by Bow today

» low levels of resilience

» child poverty

» chronic ill-health

» high levels of financial vulnerability

» over-crowded and poor quality housing

» high unemployment

» large family size

» debt collectors and the informal economy

» low incomes

But this is also Bromley by Bow

And this is Bromley by Bow too

Last Wednesday

Last Friday

What does the Bromley by Bow Centre do?

» Bromley by Bow CentreIndependent charity £4m turnover, 150 staffOperating on 23 sites 2,500 clients per weekLearning Centre – Day care Centre – Social Welfare Advice Centre – Arts Centre - Integrated health and wellbeing programmes –

Legal Advice service – Financial Capability – Employment serviceBeyond Business - incubated 41 social businesses in 7 years, 35 still trading. Turnover in excess of £4 million and created over 250 jobs

» GP Practice3-4 sites with over 23,000 patients and turnover in excess of £4m – including a seven day per week 8am – 8pm walk-in service

» And Bromley by Bow Church in Community, Bow Childcare and Poplar HARCA and FoodCycle

Money Trainers

Issues we were seeking to address

» Low levels of financial resilience in the community

» Case analysis from our Social Welfare Advice service suggested that people were delaying seeking help with financial difficulties until the last possible moment

» Saving in our community is rare; debt is widespread

» Bromley by Bow Ward has 95% level of financial vulnerability, according to statistical modelling by Experian, and ING direct produced modelled estimates of household savings at local authority level show very low levels in our community

What we wanted to achieve

• To increase the number of people who save and the levels of savings

• Develop a cohort of local people, Money Trainers, with improved knowledge and understanding of financial capability and the skills to reach and support others in improving their financial capability

• To develop a series of engagement techniques and delivery methods that met local people’s interest and led to sustained involvement

• Use peer to peer training and mentoring support to improve the financial capability in a wide range of local people who would be unlikely to financially plan or save

What we wanted to achieve

• To support people who had poor financial management, including those who were at risk of getting into debt or who were in debt (including through referral from debt advice)

• To improve financial planning, budgeting and economising skills, understanding of priority and non priority debts, rationale and implications of borrowing and the importance of savings in creating resilience

• To encourage a change in attitudes towards saving, i.e. that even on a modest income one can save, and for such changes to lead to a change in behaviour To use the power of group dynamics and normative behaviour to support behavioural change

Methodology•Based on the Health Trainer model

•Volunteer led

•Intensive training for local people in money management, outreach, mentoring and group facilitation

•Establishment of activity groups

•1-2-1 support

•Engaging with those who don’t usually seek or access services

What we did•Trained 43 people to become Money Trainers (26 local people, 17 front line professionals)

• Delivered a series of intensive training courses in money management, outreach, 1-2-1 support and group facilitation

•Follow up support given to the Money Trainers in the field through individual coaching and further group training

•Establishment of 17 Money Trainer activity groups including cooking on a budget, food growing, summer fun family programmes, beauty on a budget, home made cosmetics and beauty treatments

•Money Trainers provided 1-2-1 mentoring support

•Supported people create savings plan

•Supported people to open Credit Union accounts

Beauty on a Budget

Grow your own for free

Healthy eating on a budget

Summer fun family group

Challenges

Challenges

Recruiting and keeping some Money Trainers after the trainingHigh expectations of Money Trainers to deliver In the activity groups, getting the balance right between the ‘activity’ and the money management content in the groupsMonitoring savings and change in behaviour in participants

What worked• Intensive training, initial two day training programme – people

opened up and relationships formed • Group activities – people drawn to the group because of activity, peers

shared experiences and encouraged behavioural change • Money Trainers worked best in supportive environments such as;

parents groups at Children’s Centres and schools, the Bromley by Bow Centre, including our park for the summer fun programme, and its allotment beds for growing groups and our community café for cooking and healthy eating groups

• Training front line staff to support volunteer Money Trainers and/or to become Money Trainers themselves

• Training of front line staff led to the theme of financial capability being elevated within organisations such as Children’s Centres, schools and community centres