With personal debt back at pre-financial crisis levels, financial capability remains crucially important.
There is increasing evidence of a direct link between financial skills and life opportunities; conversely an inability to manage money can reduce prospects and impact health.
As we enter our 10th year, our appetite for learning and commitment to youth participation and inclusiveness will lead us in exciting directions, including working with young deaf and young blind people to help them to have the same life chances as their peers.
We would like to thank the young people we work with, our wonderful team and the foundations, corporates, schools, youth organisations, partners, and private donors that support us. We look forward to our second decade and hope you will continue this journey with us.
Beatrice Engstrom-Bondy & Lily Lapenna-Huda
MyBnk Co-Chairs
The year saw significant developments in MyBnk’s areas of focus.
An All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) enquiry concluded that, two years after introducing financial education to the curriculum, provision is patchy, teachers are not confident delivering it, and evidence of impact is scarce.
Other reports showed not enough is being done to help vulnerable young adults into independent living.
The Money Advice Service (MAS) launched the What Works Fund, to evaluate financial education initiatives. This focus on including everybody and doing it well could mean in 2018 government and civil society has the evidence necessary to scale impactful interventions such as ours.
Innovations included working with young offenders, adding digital skills to workshops and supporting corporates to improve financial education offerings. Our focus on quality saw 88% of teachers’ rate sessions as excellent, MAS evaluated flagship programmes as proven, and our methodology was backed by Ofsted and the APPG. We were also honoured to win The Guardian Charity Award.
In February I became sole CEO of MyBnk, as Founder, Lily Lapenna-Huda, moved to Co-Chair of the Trustees. We welcomed entrepreneur, Neil Waller, to the Board and the broadcaster and campaigner, June Sarpong MBE, as patron.
Ahead are new challenges, including developing and expanding The Money House, a week-long financial capability programme set in a flat, for disadvantaged young people moving into their own accommodation, collaborating with Tomorrow’s People to combine our programmes with employability skills and expanding to primary schools.
This is set to be a pivotal period for our sector as the UK’s Financial Capability Strategy establishes facts on the ground. We thank our stakeholders for making this a breakthrough year for financial and enterprise education.
