Senedd Showcase for Young People on Money for Life Programme
Speakers (front from left) National Training Federation for Wales’ chief executive Arwyn Watkins, Deputy Minister for Skills Jeff Cuthbert, Lloyds Banking Group’s area director commercial Allan Griffiths and ColegauCymru chief executive Dr John Graystone with learners at the Senedd reception.
Lloyds TSB’s Money for Life financial capability and personal money skills programme that targets young people celebrated key milestones at a special event at the National Assembly for Wales’ Senedd in Cardiff on Tuesday night.
Deputy Minister for Skills Jeff Cuthbert hosted a reception to showcase the success of the programme, which is funded by Lloyds Banking Group and delivered in Wales by ColegauCymru/CollegesWales in partnership with the National Training Federation for Wales (NTfW).
The Lloyds TSB Money for Life programme aims to develop vital money management skills in trainers as well as learners across the further education (FE) sector, including colleges, work based learning providers and a wide range of organisations that are rooted in their local communities.
The programme has two key strands: firstly, developing the skills of those who work with young people and secondly, providing opportunities for young people to develop their own skills.
The training courses for those working with young people, Teach Me and Teach Others, give staff the knowledge, skills and confidence to work with young people to develop their financial capability.
A key success has been the capacity to reach a diverse range of community-based organisations, including housing associations, Gingerbread, Communities First, Trading Standards, Barnardo’s, Credit Unions, the Citizens Advice Bureau, as well as colleges and work-based learning providers, with almost 200 recruited so far.
Staff are now much more able to support young people in learning about managing money.
Learners have been developing their own money management skills through Lloyds TSB’s Money for Life Challenge. The Challenge is a competition that aims to find successful and innovative ways to improve the money management skills of learners, their friends, families and communities.
Showcasing their initiative to Assembly Members and guests at the Senedd event was the Lloyds TSB Money for Life Money for Life Challenge winner for Wales, the Don’t Buy Posh – Save Your Dosh team from ACT Training Bridgend, who will carry the nation’s hopes to the UK Grand Final in London on May 23.
The rising cost of food that leaves many people with little money at the end of the week to spend on other household essentials inspired the Don’t Buy Posh Save Your Dosh team to host taste tests and set up a cut price cafe for a day to demonstrate that expensive isn’t always best.
Showcasing the computer game that won them the People’s Choice prize was Money Maze, a team of IT learners from Gower College Swansea. Other Lloyds TSB Money for Life Money for Life Challenge finalists and highly commended teams also joined the showcases.
ColegauCymru is now working with the Welsh Government, the National Grid for Learning and others to ensure that the high quality resources on money management developed as a result of the Teach Me and Teach Others programmes as well as by Lloyds TSB Money for Life Money for Life Challenge teams are made available to all.
Deputy Minister for Skills Jeff Cuthbert AM commended the Lloyds TSB Money for Life programme and said it had an important role to play in the Welsh Government’s mission to eradicate child poverty.
“In the current economic climate, learning financial and money skills are as important as they have ever been,” he added. “I am very encouraged to see the progress that the Money for Life programme has made in developing the skills of those who work with young people and providing opportunities for young people to develop their own skills.”
Allan Griffiths, Lloyds Banking Group’s area director commercial, said: “Our customers and communities are at the very heart of everything we do. As a bank we should be helping people – not just our customers, but the communities in which we operate – get better at managing their money.
“That’s precisely why Lloyds Banking Group is proud to support people dealing with ‘live’ money issues through the Money for Life Programme. After all, managing your money is one of the most important skills you can learn.”
Other speakers included ColegauCymru chief executive Dr John Graystone and National Training Federation for Wales’ chief executive Arwyn Watkins, who said he hoped the Lloyds TSB Money for Life Challenge would become a feature of future curriculum planning.
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