A major expansion of Just Finance Foundation’s COVID Cash Course is set to enable a thousand churches and community organisations to deliver information and resources that will help 10,000 people tackle financial issues that have arisen due to the Coronavirus pandemic, potentially preventing a downward spiral in their circumstances.

We wanted to take a moment to write and update you on the work the Just Finance Foundation are doing to battle the Coronavirus. The Just Finance Foundation, like many other charities, have been quick to respond with support to people effected by the Coronavirus.

So what have we been doing?

What would you do if we gave you £15 right now?

Treat yourself? Save it for a rainy day? Invest it? Give it to a loved one?

What would you have done with £15 when you were younger?

Would this be any different?

LifeSavers, our financial education programme for primary school children (KS1 and KS2), is now in it’s 4th year of delivery. Growing year-on-year, the programme now has 120 registered schools and we at The Just Finance Foundation (founders of LifeSavers) have ambitious plans to grow this number further!

If you’re like me and my family, monopoly is a staple board game at Christmas. If you’re even more like my family, it’s not uncommon for there to be an argument along the way. Typically, these arguments will regard
one or two players being lucky, one player acting arrogantly or the rules of the game itself being unfair.

Sound familiar? Well, Professor Paul Piff, a social psychologist, has illustrated that the way people in which people behave during a game of monopoly varies depending on how wealthy a player is.

A £250,000 grant from Allchurches Trust will enable The Just Finance Foundation’s LifeSavers programme to provide financial education to thousands more primary school children, helping them to develop healthy money skills and habits at a key point in their lives.

More and more organisations, schools and businesses are discovering the power of adopting and articulating a set of core values.

If everyone in an organisation shares the same values, then their energies are all channelled in the same direction. For businesses, some studies suggest that effective corporate values can generate up to 30 percent of difference in performance

Gurj Shergill has recently joined the Transforming Communities Together (TCT) team as the new Overcoming Shocking Debt Worker. Gurj joins the fantastic Black Country branch of the Just Finance Foundation adding further to a team experienced and talented in addressing many aspects of financial capability.

In the UK we are experiencing a period of uncertainty. With precarious incomes, ever-rising housing costs and unprecedented levels of indebtedness, distress, as a direct and indirect result of money, is epidemic across the UK. Currently, 11.5 million people in the UK have less than £100 in savings and nearly nine million of us are in serious debt (FinCap 2019). Yet money and personal finances can often be a taboo subject.  

Jesus Money is a new resource from the Just Finance Foundation and Transforming Communities Together.

Taking about money isn’t easy - especially in groups - we have created this resource to help break the ice - a simple and effective set of thought-provoking questions across four topic areas: SPEND, GIVE, SAVE, BORROW…

Our partner in the Black Country recently met with Gabi from The Big Issue in the Midlands to chat about the impact of their staff attending a Cash Smart Credit Savvy, Training the Trainer course.

Keely Flowers is a local teacher. She is also project manager of Ablewell Advice (Image copyright - Ablewell Advice)

We have produced a simple guide: ‘Universal Credit: Everything You Need to Know’ - a short guide to what the new benefit system is, who it’s for, and how to support someone applying for it.

JFF recently submitted a joint response to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with the Church of England’s Mission and Public Affairs Council, relating to its proposals to introduce price controls on the Rent-to-own (RTO) market…

Black Country Chamber President Julie Cunningham alongside Revd Cassius Francis, from Just Finance Black Country, Jazzmynne Dixon from Wolverhampton City Credit Union and Dharminder Dhaliwal from Castle & Crystal in Dudley.

A recent evaluation report by Public Perspectives shows that LifeSavers has successfully taught children about money, including where it comes from and how to save, which we believe are essential aspects of learning, especially helping a child’s growth into adult life.