The scheme is part of a national financial capability strategy, aimed at educating people on making sensible financial choices. It is available to workplaces across the UK and aims to reach four million employees by 2011 and a further 500,000 through workplace seminars.
The FSA will provide employers with an employer relationship manager, free materials, advice on the communications needed to encourage staff to attend seminars, and a trained presenter to deliver the presentation at the office.
The spotlight on financial education comes after figures from the Insolvency Service were released showing a 60 per cent increase to 107,288 in individual insolvencies in 2006, with house repossessions reaching 17,000.
Phil Hall, press manager for ifs School of Finance, said it was sensible to have some form of workplace financial education. “We have been concentrating on future generations’ education, but we’ve got to recognise there are hundreds of thousands of adults left without any financial skills. An area for focusing on in the future could be trade unions, which have their own education schemes, but don’t have anything specific for finance.”
Andy Frankish, managing director of Mortgage Talk, commented: “The average person spends half an hour a month on their finances and don’t want to deal with the hassle of it at home. The workplace is good as it focuses people’s minds.”
Bernard Clarke, spokesman for the CML, added the scheme also had benefits for employers. “The seminars are tailored to incorporate key messages about the employer’s total reward package and the educational programme is delivered free of charge.”
