Financial Skills Education in Prisons 

From October – Dec 2024, 36 men at Highpoint prison have been helped with financial skills, alongside our schools’ financial literacy programme.

Money Mentor Lizzie's financial literacy sessions at the prison are taught to groups of 6 -12 men, all of whom will be nearing their release date. The sessions include the same content as the schools’ work, encompassing money management and budgeting, but are more appropriate to the men leaving prison. With 1/7 offenders expected to be homeless within a year of leaving prison, relatable content is critical.

For example, the prison work focuses on bank accounts, pay slips, employment, tax and national insurance contributions. Following feedback from early sessions in August, the programme has been adapted to include information about self-employment laws as many will return to the workforce as labourers.

She has also taken Debt Advisor, Charlotte, with her to support with employability days for offenders preparing for release.
Managing money and budgeting are crucial life skills, especially for those transitioning back into society.

Feedback

The feedback received by prison staff included: “Thank you for coming in on Tuesday. Me and Nicki both really appreciated you giving us your time. We thought both sessions were positive, and the men engaged well. Looking at the feedback, the men really enjoyed it and it was beneficial and something we would want to run again.”

Their comments are based on the feedback received from the men, who summarised the sessions as follows:

•  Understanding my payslip and what to do if I’m in debt
•  It was informative
•  It was easy to understand
•  I found the information shared interesting and helped me learn about different bills
•  Very personable
•  How it was delivered
•  All the advice about budgeting my income and expenditure
•  How to manage debt and credit score
•  Boring, not helpful but can see why it may be helpful
•  It was communicated well, using clear and concise language
•  Was very useful, easy to follow and informative

What we know offenders have learned

We place great emphasis on feedback, using it to develop and improve our services. It was therefore also interesting to hear about what the prisoners didn’t know about prior to the sessions, including:

•  If you own your property you have to pay tax on the roads and bins
•  I learnt about the deductions on a payslip & HP- Higher purchase
•  The repercussions of not paying your debts, even if you end up in custody
•  How to budget
•  Very helpful, jogged my memory on so many things
•  How to manage money better
•  I have learnt how to keep a budgeting sheet to help me track my expenditure

The sessions include many opportunities for discussion which is more inclusive and more engaging. Quizzes are used, as well as picture cards with food items on one side and the price on the other. They are asked to put together a weekly shop and consider branded versus non-branded options. An essential component of the session is a discussion around having enough money in the bank to pay the bills – a simple but often overlooked consideration.