Lone parent, carer and elderly groups to benefit from FSA's Innovation Fund
26th March 2007Lone parents, carers and the elderly are just some of the groups that will benefit from the latest round of funding being awarded by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to help people become more financially capable.
The 200,000 GBP Innovation Fund is part of the FSA's National Strategy for Financial Capability, it was launched in June 2005 to provide support for innovative projects run by voluntary organisations helping people manage their finances more effectively.
The FSA works closely with each project and helps to forge links with relevant national bodies to ensure that, where possible, good practice guides and toolkits are shared on a national scale.
Speaking at the Transact Annual Conference, Vernon Everitt, Director of Retail Themes at the FSA, announced the latest groups to receive funding - the FSA hopes to be in a position to announce a sixth project later this year. The confirmed projects are listed below:
Gingerbread has been awarded 49,000 GBP. The lone parent charity will produce a resource pack to help parents develop financial and budgeting skills by developing plans for a holiday or family fun day. Over 60% of Gingerbread's membership lives in relative poverty and the project will develop packs to be distributed to its groups and members, aiming to reach 62,000 families in the first year;
Princess Royal Trust for Carers has been awarded 42,000 GBP. It will deliver workshops to carers in Tower Hamlets, providing them with an understanding in personal finance and budgeting, including issues such as debt, avoiding the need to use doorstep lending at high interest rates, recovery of poor credit ratings and coping with the financial impact of bereavement. The 2001 census recorded 17,000 unpaid carers in this borough, the second most disadvantaged area in the UK's deprivation indices. The workshops will be delivered in English, Somali and Bengali - the three main languages spoken in Tower Hamlets;
Coast and Moors Voluntary Action, based in Scarborough and Whitby, has been awarded 16,000 GBP. Working with women, especially those in disadvantaged groups, the project will tackle debt and overspending issues which can occur over Christmas, so that they can apply these skills throughout the year in day-to-day lives. The project aims to replicate the resources across the region and North Yorkshire;
Age Concern Gateshead has been awarded 38,000 GBP. Age Concern will take a 'Money Matters' roadshow to each of the sheltered accommodation schemes in Gateshead, reaching 4,500 people during the project which will provide information and advice on a range of topics such as types of financial products available, debt, and benefits; and
National Housing Federation has been awarded 22,000 GBP. The project will tailor existing material created by SAFE (Services Against Financial Exclusion) at Toynbee Hall, a London-based organisation that creates local programmes which have potentially national application, to create a guide for use by social housing workers to provide tenants with a better understanding of financial matters tailored to their circumstances.
The National Housing Federation represents 1400 not-for-profit housing associations, providing two million homes for five million people in England.
Vernon Everitt, Director of Retail Themes at the FSA, said:
"The strength of the National Strategy for Financial Capability depends on effective partnerships with trusted, community-based organisations.
"We are very proud to announce five new, locally based partnerships that will deliver significant benefits for the communities they know best.
"Last year's winners have exceeded our expectations in terms of achievement of goals, sustainability of projects, and replication of ideas that can be rolled out to wider groups."
The Innovation Fund is part of a wider 100 million GBP National Strategy programme, led by the FSA and bringing together the financial services industry, consumer and voluntary organisations, government and the media to find ways to improve the UK's financial capability. As part of this, the FSA is focused on reaching ten million people over the next five years through programmes focused on children in schools, young adults in colleges and universities, or not in employment or education, employees in their workplaces and new parents.
