Money Matters
Resolve Poverty has increased household incomes by more than £350,000 via its Money Matters programme.
Money Matters aims to support families by providing debt and benefit advice in schools. Our approach involves working with Citizens Advice to provide accredited Financial Inclusion Officers that are able to support families in school settings.
Currently working in four boroughs and across primary, secondary and further education settings, we have a consistent presence at school events and activities. This includes attending parents’ evenings, hosting coffee mornings and drop-ins, and communicating with families via school newsletters and classroom update apps.
We have achieved more than £350,000 in gains for household incomes, with most of this total coming from ongoing benefits income. Gains have also included grants to reduce utility debts, support with buying school uniform and help in securing vital household items including washing machines.
A full evaluation of Money Matters was carried out at the end of the 2022/23 academic year. Findings from the evaluation are being used to influence Resolve Poverty’s policy and advocacy asks, and to expand Money Matters to localities where it is needed.
The financial help was very significant to me but it also reduced stress, which improved my mental health. When you are cold, sick, in debt and don’t have money, life is very tough. Money Matters helped a lot; having someone to talk to and help you really helped.
Money Matters: unlocking extra income for families – a policy report
January 2024
Billions of pounds in benefits go unclaimed every year meaning many families are facing unnecessary hardship.
That’s why Kellogg’s partnered with Resolve Poverty to pilot Money Matters, a scheme that put benefits advisors directly into schools to help parents access the support they are eligible for. In the first year alone 104 families received more than £163,009 in unclaimed benefits.
Now Kellogg’s and Resolve Poverty are encouraging the government to roll out Money Matters across the rest of the UK, so more families can benefit from this life changing programme and access money to which they are already entitled.
We can work with you to develop a local Money Matters programme
Our offer includes:
- Establishing and facilitating a Money Matters working group in your area, bringing together partners and people with lived experience of poverty
- Using our learning and experience to date to develop a plan for Money Matters delivery
- Identifying and collaborating with a local delivery partner, such as a trusted advice organisation
- Monitoring usage and impact of Money Matters to assist with evaluation
- Identifying funding routes for sustainability of the programme
- Connections with other Money Matters provision to share learning.
Contact Daniel Oliver at daniel@resolvepoverty.org to learn more.
Money Matters has added an extra string to our pastoral bow, and in these times that matters. All too often it turns out that families are not receiving what they are entitled to. One family at our school is better off by £1,000 per month. Most of all we’ve seen pupils’ focus and concentration improve. It ought to be self-evident, but children are better able to learn when they are fed, wearing the correct uniform and unencumbered by the sorts of money worries that ought to be the preserve of parents.
Funding and support
This programme was developed with our strategic partners Kellogg’s and Citizen’s Advice SORT:
- Kellogg’s has been helping to alleviate child hunger by supporting school breakfast clubs in the UK since 1998. Their support for Money Matters is driven by a desire to understand how they can further support low-income families.
- Citizens Advice provides free, confidential and impartial advice to millions of people every year and their expertise and resources is a valuable aid to Money Matters. The Financial Inclusion Officers involved in the delivery of this programme are on secondment from Citizens Advice SORT.