1
Developing a theory of change for financial capability An Intersectional Analysis
Satdeep Grewal
Citizens Advice Impact & Evaluation Team
2
Contents Introduction
03
Executive Summary
05
Evidence review
13
- Personal characteristics
13
- Environmental influences
31
- Combinations of characteristics - Additional questions
59 63
Implications for Citizens Advice 64 Glossary
67
3
Introduction The aim of this research paper is to support Citizens Advice to develop a theory of change that structures how we evaluate our services’ impact on our clients’ financial capability. Our theory of change is driven by the conviction that our evaluations should accurately reflect the particular group of clients that we work with and the nature of the services that we deliver. We will be using the below theory of change model to frame our thinking:
▲ Figure 1: Citizens Advice’s theory of change.
The methodology of this research paper involves posing research questions in relation to how people’s different characteristics and life situations might relate to their financial capability, taking into account the strength, nature and reason for that relationship. In response, there is a summary of the relevant research available to answer each research question. Any gaps in evidence and opportunities for further research are identified, and hypotheses are posed based on the evidence available. The review ends on assessing the implications of its findings on the development of Citizens Advice’s theory of change for improving clients’ financial capability. This paper builds on findings from a rapid evidence assessment we completed earlier this year1 and contains additional evidence collected from evaluations and observations of front line Citizens Advice services. The dimensions we will be looking at in this paper are: ● Individual characteristics - age, gender, literacy and numeracy, physical health, mental health and work status. ● Environmental influences - household income and wealth levels, deprivation, household type, housing tenure, financial control, life events, region, channels through which support is delivered, social and societal conditions and temporal impact. ● Combinations of characteristics - how different dimensions can have an impact on your financial capability when they occur together. 1
Citizens Advice (2015) Financial Capability: A review of the latest evidence. Citizens Advice.
4
● Additional domains to consider - digital capability, relationships between financial capability domains, unknowns. Findings from this detailed evidence review will be brought together in an outcomes framework and theory of change rooted in what we know about the characteristics of our clients and financial capability services. A wide range of evidence will be reviewed as part of this paper, all of which use differing criteria for financial capability. For clarity and reference, an overview of all these different definitions can be found in a glossary at the end of this document. In sum, most definitions of financial capability cover the ideas of managing money and having the right attitude to money, planning ahead, choosing products, staying informed, and having the right knowledge and abilities.
5
Executive Summary Aim: to support Citizens Advice to develop a theory of change that structures how we evaluate our services’ impact on our clients’ financial capability, in a way that takes into account our client’s characteristics and situations. Methodology: an in-depth literature review collating existing research that evaluates the relationship between the different domains of financial capability and people’s personal characteristics, environmental influences and combinations of characteristics. This takes into account the strength, nature and reason for that relationship, while identifying any gaps in evidence available. Findings: below are three tables summarising the findings from this review, that is, the main personal and environmental characteristics that can have an impact on your financial capability, and the kinds of things that can influence changes in your financial capability. Conclusion: findings from this review make clear that the next steps for Citizens Advice to develop a robust theory of change for improving our clients’ financial capability. That is, to gather more detailed, segmented information on our clients’ characteristics, per service, and to collate in-depth contextual data on the content of the services being delivered. These activities will help Citizens Advice to identify to what extent our services have an impact on each domain of financial capability, and thus how each domain should be evaluated. Personal characteristics that influence financial capability Domains of financial capability2 Managing money
Likely to have high scores
Likely to have average scores Likely to have poor scores
Adults
Both genders
Young people Women from a black, asian or minority ethnic background.
People will all types of educational qualifications
Poor mental health
People in all types of employment Keeping track Few or no formal qualifications
2
See the glossary for more detailed definitions of the different financial capability domains.
6
Controlled spending
Both genders
All ages
Middleaged people
People with poor GCSE level qualifications
Both genders
Unemployed people or those who are economically inactive for some other reason, particularly those who have never worked or are longterm unemployed.
People will all types of qualification levels People in all types of employment. Making ends meet
Most qualification levels People in all types of employment Planning ahead 10% working age adults with no educational qualifications
Everyone but particularly: Young people and older people, especially those from a black, asian or minority ethnic background. Women score slightly lower than men Adults with poor GCSE level qualifications or no formal qualifications, especially if they are out of full time work and are renting rather than buying a home. Poor mental health Unemployed people.
Resilience to changes in circumstances and financial shocks Choosing products
Most ages Older people, especially those on a low income. Poor mental health
Both genders
Older people aged 65+
People with all types of educational qualifications.
People who are retired from paid work.
People in most types of employment and unemployment.
Those who have never worked or are longterm unemployed. People with no formal qualifications, particularly when
7
they are young, renting and on a low income. Staying informed
People with degrees or higher All ages but particularly levels of education young people. People employed in a higher People with no formal managerial, administrative and qualifications, a nondegree or professional occupations. higher level of qualification. People in most types of employment and unemployment but particularly those who are not in work for some other reason than being unemployed, those who have never worked or who are longterm unemployed. Both genders but women score particularly low.
Overall financial 65 year olds or older, in capability good health, have higher levels of education, are employed fulltime, do not have children living with them and own their home outright.
Young couples living on a highincome, living beyond their means.
Young adults
Having no educational qualifications or qualifications Young, wellorganised people that do not include degrees or on a middle income who 'live above. for the day'. Being longterm unemployed. Welloff older couples with Older people on a low income who are not so good at keeping Being male. many financial products. track of money. People with poor health, little Older people on a low Middleaged people on a low or no educational income who are good at income who are reasonable at qualifications, are unemployed money management or economically inactive, live making ends meet. generally. with dependent children and Young, single people with either have a mortgage or live Middleaged but some financial engagement. in social housing. disorganised people. Young single people on a low income and with few financial products. Early middleaged people who own few financial products but do some planning. Young people with children who are struggling on a low income and are disorganised.
8
Environmental characteristics that influence financial capability Domains of financial capability3 Managing money
Likely to have high scores Likely to have average scores Likely to have poor scores
All household income and wealth levels, particularly those with the highest net household financial wealth
All household types, particularly lone parents. All geographical regions Keeping track Tenants
Controlled spending
Home owners with outright ownership, particularly those who are older and more affluent
All household income and wealth levels.
All household types, particularly single adults and couples without children. All geographical regions Making ends meet
All household income or Lone parents with dependent wealth levels particularly children those with the highest net household financial wealth. Tenants
Most household types, particularly couples without children score highest. Homeowners with outright ownership, particularly those who are older and more affluent. All geographical regions, particularly Scotland, South East and South West England. Planning ahead Homeowners both outright owners and mortgagees.
All household income or wealth levels. All household types, particularly lone parents with dependent children.
3
See the glossary for more detailed definitions of the different financial capability domains.
9
People renting, living with family or in some other living arrangement to the norm. All geographical regions Resilience to High income changes in circumstances and financial shocks Choosing products
Most household income and wealth levels, particularly the least financially wealthy.
Middle income
Low income
Lowest levels of income
People renting, living with family or in some other living arrangement to the norm.
Single adults
Most household types, particularly couples with dependent children. Homeowners both outright owners and mortgagees All geographical regions, particularly the East Midlands. Living in an area made up of mostly wealthy achievers. Staying informed
Homeowners both outright owners and mortgagees
All household income or wealth levels. All household types, particularly lone parents with dependent or nondependent children. People renting, living with family or in some other living arrangement to the norm. All geographical regions, particularly Scotland and North East England. Living in an area where most people are hardpressed.
Overall financial Experiencing capability unemployment Divorcees
Having a longterm history of low financial capability.
10
Having a longterm history of high financial capability
Having low household wealth, particularly if that’s financial or pension wealth. Living in the East of England, Scotland, Yorkshire and Humberside. Living in Wales means you are particularly likely to have low scores on multiple dimensions of financial capability; this is most stark on the choosing products dimension. Couples with children, whether they are dependent or nondependent. Lone parents with dependent children.
11
Influences associated with changes in your financial capability Domains of financial capability4
Things that are related to improvements in your financial capability
Things that are unlikely to be related to changes in your financial capability
Things that are related to deteriorations in your financial capability
Managing money
Onetoone financial capability training
Income levels
Household type Geographical region Controlled spending
Increases in household wealth
Income levels
Decreases in household wealth
Household type Age Geographical region Making ends meet
Increases in household income or wealth
Geographical region
Decreases in household income or wealth
Geographical region
Decreases in household income or wealth
Age Planning ahead
Increases in in household income or wealth
Lowering of socioeconomic group. Resilience to changes in circumstances and financial shocks
Increases in income
Decreases in income
Choosing products
Increases in household income or wealth
Geographical region
Decreases in household income or wealth Age Lowering of socioeconomic group
4
Meeting financial commitments
Reminders that have simplified and personalised language and include references to social norms.
Staying informed
Increases in household income or wealth
Geographical region
Decreases in household income or wealth
See the glossary for more detailed definitions of the different financial capability domains.
12
Overall financial capability
Increases in household income
Household income
Falls in household income
Life events in general (increases but not statistically significant)
Getting divorced
Economic activity status, i.e., being employed, unemployed, retired etc. Entering work (increases but not statistically significant) Becoming unemployed (decreases but not statistically significant) Getting married (increases but not statistically significant) Over the longterm; you are likely to stay at the same financial capability level you started out with. Over the shortterm following an intervention; improvements in financial capability are likely to persist 3 to 4 months following an intervention.
13
Evidence review of how different factors affect financial capability Personal characteristics This section looks at the level of influence your personal characteristics can have on your financial capability.
Age Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between your age and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference if you are a child, a young person, of working age, or an older person in retirement? If so, in what way do these characteristics make a difference and why? 3. To what extent does your age or life stage determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence Looking at the relationship between age and financial capability, the Money Advice Service’s 2013 national survey5 found that the age group that have the healthiest finances tend to be older with an average age of 50. The reason for this is that this group usually have a high take-up of insurance products, low take-up of payday loans and are very organised money managers. The group who are in need of urgent help with managing money tend to be younger than average, with almost a third falling behind on bills and other commitments, having real financial problems. The study found that regardless of age, we are often sensitive to changes in circumstances and do not tend to be very good at planning ahead for the future. Overall the research found that being younger may mean you are more vulnerable to issues arising from not being as good at managing money day-to-day, and that this is likely to be a source of other financial issues for you. Being older means you are more likely to be an organised money manager however you may still be sensitive to financial shocks, depending on your income levels.
Ipsos MORI, The Money Advice Service (2013) The Financial Capability of the UK. T he Money Advice Service. Numbers are based on extrapolation of statistically significant survey data. 5
14
These findings are echoed broadly by the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics Wealth and Assets Survey6 ( see figure 2 ), which show that as we get older, our financial capability tends to improve when it comes to the domains of making ends meet and controlling spending. Contrary to the MAS research findings however, this was found to also hold true but to a smaller extent with the domain of planning ahead. When it comes to staying informed, age does not appear to influence how good you are at this, but with regard to the financial capability domain of choosing products, this declines with age. Organised money management is the one domain that shows very little variation across all age groups. 16-24 year olds score especially poorly on planning ahead, staying informed and choosing products but this improves significantly as you go into the ages range of 25 to 34. The study reasons that this may correspond to how your personal and financial independence increases as you enter adulthood.
▲ Figure 2: Mean financial capability scores by age: Great Britain 2010 to 2012. Base: All adults interviewed in person (n=32,092), except for choosing products (n=16,379) Source: Wealth and Assets Survey - Office for National Statistics, 2015.
When controlling for other factors, the ONS study finds that increasing age is an influencing characteristic across most domains of financial capability. This is apart from in the cases of making ends meet where being in the youngest age group means you perform better than all the others combined and planning Office for National Statistics, (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012. Office for National Statistics 6
15
ahead, where scores decline in the 45 to 64 age group. These differences suggest other factors may be at play, such as having more financial support from your family when you are younger, while being in an older age group currently means you might have less to plan ahead for since you are coming to the end of your life. A study in 2004 by the FSA7 looked deeper into the factors that may explain the influence a person’s age might have on their financial capability. Qualitative findings from this showed that young people between the ages of 15 and 18 tend to rely on their parents as their primary source of information on finances. Another exploratory study also by the FSA8 conducted focus groups with different age groups and found that your attitude towards money also changes according to your age, for example, being young means your views on financial capability can be much more focussed on understanding the importance of planning for the long-term but you are likely to not be putting this into practice yet, and you are likely to be much more open to using different forms of credit. Being middle-aged means you are more likely to see money management and planning ahead as important, and you are likely to be doing this in practice, particularly when it comes to saving for a pension. This group also tends to own a wider range of products and access a broader range of advice and information, can be wary of credit cards but see credit associated with mortgages and loans to buy cars as acceptable as long as they fall within the family budget. If you are older, the research shows that you are more likely to view the overuse of credit with wariness, particularly credit cards, you are less likely to be motivated to save for the long term because you’ve probably already retired and are coming to the end of your life, and you are less likely to see money management as important. The study also found that if you are older and from a black, asian or ethnic minority background, you are more likely to have worked on a low income in an unregulated business, and so are much less likely to receive a work-related pension and will have had very little leeway to save money for retirement. Evidence gaps ● A finer breakdown of age groupings - in some of the research, age is not placed into distinct categories, but rather referred to as people who are ‘older’ and ‘younger than average’.
Financial Services Authority (2004) Young people and financial matters. FSA Consumer Research Report 25. 8 University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. p.29-30. 7
16
● There is no evidence to show how much age influences the extent to which you can change your financial capability. Hypotheses Based on the evidence, age is an influencing factor when it comes to financial capability and overall your financial capability will improve as you age, but this varies depending on which domain of financial capability you are considering. This is most likely because as you get older, your responsibilities and priorities change, and so the importance and attention that you give to different domains of financial capability will change.
Gender Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between your gender and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you are a woman or a man? If so, in what way does your gender make a difference and why? 3. To what extent does your gender determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence In terms of the relationship between financial capability and gender, ONS research9 has found there to be statistically significant differences between the way men and women score on different dimensions of financial capability [ see figure 3 ] . Women tend to score slightly better than men on organised money management and controlled spending whereas men scored slightly better on making ends meet, planning ahead, choosing products and staying informed. Similar findings were demonstrated in the FSA’s 2006 baseline survey10 which found that women scored higher than men on keeping track, and scored slightly lower than men on planning ahead, choosing products and staying informed. The main difference was that the FSA found there to be no significant difference between men and women on their making ends meet scores. Earlier qualitative research by the FSA in 200411 found cultural factors to be significant influencers on the extent to which gender can determine your financial capability. For example in South Asian and Black African families, Office for National Statistics (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012, Office for National Statistics. p.5. 10 University of Bristol (2006) Levels of Financial Capability in the UK: Results of a baseline survey. Financial Services Authority 11 University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. 9
17
women often play no role in managing finances, usually being in charge of the private sphere while men tend to have the traditional breadwinning role. During the research, women from this background found it difficult to answer many questions about finances in general. Overall, the research found that the less responsibility someone has over their finances, the more difficult it is to assess their financial capability; they used attitude statements as proxy measurements in these cases. It should be noted however that similar gender divisions of labour can be present in all cultures, and is a factor to consider in the context of financial abuse, especially when this has a gendered dynamic. These considerations will be looked at in more detail in the later section on financial control .
▲ Figure 3: Mean financial capability scores by sex: Great Britain 2010 to 2012. Base: All adults interviewed in person (n=32,092), except for choosing products (n=16,379) Source: Wealth and Assets Survey - Office for National Statistics, 2015.
Research by the Institute for Social and Economic Research12 looks at the varying impact that having a low financial capability can have on men versus women. It was found that men bear the same psychological costs as being unemployed and for women, it’s the same as being divorced. These variations are based on findings in the research that showed men and women suffer from life events differently; unemployment was found to have more of an impact on men’s
Taylor, Mark., Stephen Jenkins and Amanda Sacker (2011) Financial capability, income and psychological well being. Institute for Social & Economic Research. 12
18
psychological health than on women’s while being a widow has more of an impact on women’s psychological health than on men’s. Evidence gaps ● Need a further exploration for why these differences exist, whether it is to do with women being less likely to work13 and living on a lower income than men.14 Also the fact that if they do work, women are much more likely to work part-time.15 ● Need further exploration of the general cultural influences that may not be restricted to just south asian and black african peoples, to do with women and men’s changing roles in relation to money, depending on your social and cultural background, and how these things interact with financial capability. ● Further research required into how financial capability interacts with the fact that women are more likely to be financially abused.16 ● Need more evidence on how gender influences the extent to which you can change your financial capability. Hypotheses The evidence shows that your gender does have an influence over your financial capability, however your cultural background and your overall level of control over your finances are also interacting influences together with your gender. Overall women tend to be better at organised money management, controlling spending and keeping track. Men are better at planning ahead, choosing products and staying informed . There is no significant difference between genders on making ends meet.
ONS Labour Market statistics accessed on 24/8/2015: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/january-2015/statistical-bulletin.html #tab-1--Employment 14 OECD Better Life Index statistics accessed on 24/8/2015: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/united-kingdom/ 15 ONS’s latest report on women in the UK labour market is from 2013 and found that in April to June 2013, approximately 13.4 million women aged 16 to 64 were in work with 42% working part-time and 15.3 million men were in work, with 12% working part-time: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_328352.pdf 16 Findings from recent research by women’s aid show that women a re more likely to be victims of financial abuse (Howard. M, and Skipp. A (2015) Unequal, trapped & controlled: Women’s experience of financial abuse and potential implications for Universal Credit. women’s aid, TUC). 13
19
Literacy and numeracy Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between your level of literacy in the English language, your level of numeracy, and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you have low literacy (little to no English reading, writing, listening or speaking skills), if you are deficient in just a couple of areas, e.g., can’t read but can do everything else in English, or if you have good or excellent literacy skills? If so, in what way do these things make a difference and why? 3. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you have low numeracy (little to no ability to do sums, multiply, divide, add up totals, understanding of fractions and the relationship between pounds and pence), if you are deficient in just a couple of areas, e.g., can’t multiply but can do everything else with only a few mistakes, or if you have good or excellent numeracy skills? If so, in what way do these things make a difference and why? 4. To what extent do your literacy and numeracy levels determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence The most comprehensive research assessing the links between literacy, numeracy and financial capability was conducted by the Personal Finance Research Centre (2007)17 and builds on findings from the FSA’s 2006 baseline survey of financial capability.18 The report uses educational qualifications and reading ability to identify who are most likely to have literacy and numeracy needs, in relation to the FSA’s five financial capability domains of making ends meet, keeping track, planning ahead, choosing products and staying informed. The study found there to be a strong statistical association between educational qualifications in all but one of the five financial capability domains, that one exception being those who were most able to keep track of their finances tended to have few or no formal qualifications. The extent to which the level of someone’s qualification affects their financial capability varied across each domain. Overall, having a higher qualification meant you were more likely to score highly in the ‘making ends meet’ domain while having no qualifications meant you were more likely to have a poor ‘choosing products’ score. Atkinson, Adele (2007) Financial capability amongst adults with literacy and numeracy needs, Personal Finance Research Centre 18 University of Bristol (2006) Levels of Financial Capability in the UK: Results of a baseline survey. Financial Services Authority 17
20
The research paper then looks in more detail at the group of people with low to no qualifications, breaking them down into three groups: those with poor GCSE level qualifications, those with no formal qualifications at all and those who were born in the UK but have difficulty reading English. Here are their key findings in relation to the five domains of financial capability: ● Making ends meet. Adults with poor GCSE level qualifications tended to score poorly in this domain whereas younger adults with no formal qualifications and or had difficulty reading English were more likely to score poorly at making ends meet than older people facing the same issues. Housing tenure and work status were also significant factors in predicting scores for this domain. However 17 per cent of working age adults with no educational qualifications had ‘making ends meet’ scores in the top 20 per cent. ● Keeping track. Adults with literacy and numeracy needs tended to score better than average at keeping track and those who were most able to keep track of their finances tended to have few or no formal qualifications. Men with poor GCSE level qualifications or no formal qualifications were less likely to be keeping track than women overall. Older people who had difficulty reading English were less likely to be keeping track than younger people facing the same issues as them. ● Planning ahead. Overall the general population showed a lack of planning ahead, but those with literacy and numeracy needs tended to be in the bottom 20 per cent of scores for this domain. For adults with poor GCSE level qualifications or no formal qualifications, being out of full time work and renting rather than buying a home were significant associated factors in scoring low in this domain. Young adults with no formal qualifications or difficulty reading English were more likely to have a low score here than older people facing the same issues. Overall attitudes towards money of those with literacy and numeracy needs focused more on the short term and leaving long term issues to chance. At the same time, 10 per cent of working age adults with no educational qualifications scored in the top 20 per cent for planning ahead. ● Choosing products. All of those examined in this group were more likely to be scored in the bottom 20 per cent of this domain. However, those with no formal qualifications were especially likely to be poor at choosing products, with significant associated factors here including renting, being young, and being less well-off. Those with poor GCSE level qualifications who were renting were also more likely than mortgagors to score poorly in this domain.
21
● Staying informed. All of those examined in this group were more likely to be scored poorly this domain. 44 per cent of those with no formal qualifications were in the bottom 25 per cent of scores for this domain. Those who were buying their home were less likely than others to be in the lowest 20 per cent. Adults with no formal qualifications but who were in full time education were less likely to have low scores here than those with any other work status. According to more recent figures from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey19, financial capability domain scores vary widely across different educational levels ( see figure 4 ). In terms of planning ahead, staying informed and choosing products, those who have no qualifications score most poorly however there is less difference between those with different qualification levels when it comes to making ends meet, organised money management and controlled spending. In comparison, people with degrees or higher levels of education score particularly well on making ends meet and staying informed which ONS reason may be to do with the qualifications meriting a higher income and more professional level occupations that require more financial knowledge.
▲ Figure 4: Mean financial capability scores by education level: Great Britain 2010 to 2012. Base: All adults interviewed in person who gave their education level (n=32,088), except for choosing products (n=16,377) Source: Wealth and Assets Survey - Office for National Statistics, 2015.
Office for National Statistics, (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012. Office for National Statistics 19
22
Implications of this are that levels of financial capability amongst those with numeracy and literacy needs varies widely and that often these factors alone are not the only determinants for someone’s financial capability. Things like income levels, housing tenure and work status are just as important co-determining factors for someone’s financial capability along with their levels of literacy and numeracy. There are also cultural considerations to take into account when looking at literacy in relation to financial capability, specifically for those from a black, asian or minority ethnic background. The FSA’s exploratory study20 found that if you are from this group of people, and particularly if you are a recent migrant and older, you are more likely to have difficulties with the English language, find lengthy surveys challenging and lack knowledge and experience of the mainstream financial sector. Citizens Advice also delivers services in Wales and a recent review by the Welsh Language Commissioner21 shows we need to continue to deliver high quality services in Welsh as well as in English. Recommendations from the review include having standards of service that are the same regardless of the language they are delivered in, and Welsh language options should be promoted as an option from the outset when someone makes contact with a service and websites should use clear and easy to understand Welsh. This is to support the Welsh Language Measure (2011) standards that require voluntary and other service providers to support the following two principles: ● Treat the Welsh language no less favourably than the English language; ● Support persons in Wales to live their lives through the medium of the Welsh language if they choose to do so. When it comes to measuring literacy and numeracy in relation to financial capability, in their exploratory study, the FSA used behaviour as an indicator because they saw it as more important to measure if people use a skill rather than whether they just have it. They saw measuring behaviour as an implicit way of measuring people’s literacy and numeracy. Evidence gaps ● More detailed breakdown of levels of literacy and numeracy that goes beyond just educational qualifications and looks at their relationship to financial capability. University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. p.64. 21 Citizens Advice (2015) English by default - Understanding the use and non-use of Welsh language services - Summary report. C itizens Advice. 20
23
● The relationship between literacy and numeracy, a typology of how levels of these occur, and the relationship between these literacy/numeracy combinations and financial capability. ● The extent to which financial capability can be improved when a person possesses different levels of literacy and numeracy. Hypotheses When measured in terms of educational qualifications, your level of literacy and numeracy do have an impact on your financial capability. However there are clear co-influencing factors such as income levels, housing tenure and work status, which interact with literacy and numeracy, to affect your levels of financial capability. If your level of literacy is measured as you having few or no formal qualifications, it is likely you will be better than most at keeping track of your finances, but you will not do very well at making ends meet, keeping track, planning ahead, choosing products and staying informed. Circumstances where this may vary depend on this group’s age, income levels, housing tenure and work status. The higher your educational qualifications, the more likely it is that you have a high score in making ends meet.
Physical health Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between your physical health and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you are disabled and/or have a long-term health problem, if you have a short-term health problem or disability, or if you don’t have a health problem? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why? 3. To what extent does your physical health determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence There is very little research to show the impact of people’s physical health on their financial capability. Most of the studies to date look at how the relationship works in the other direction, i.e., how increasing someone’s financial capability can improve your health, however these studies tend to focus on psychological health and well being and how that relates to physical health. In a 2010 report the Consumer Financial Education Body found that moving an individual with relatively low levels of financial capability to an average level of capability improves their psychological well being by about 6%, which is put into context
24
when you compare that to how an 8% deterioration in wellbeing is associated with being divorced, and a 10% deterioration is associated with being unemployed.22 There is strong evidence supporting the link between mental and physical health, for example research in 2010 conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists23 found that individuals with mental illness experience increased levels of physical illness and reduced life expectancy. Research in 2011 by the Institute for Social and Economic Research24 suggests that improving your financial capability can benefit your physical health specifically in relation to stress-related illnesses because of the ways in which improving financial capability can improve your psychological health. Evidence gaps ● Research directly investigating the relationship between physical health, its fluctuations, and financial capability. Hypotheses There is research to suggest that improving your financial capability might help improve your physical health however there is no evidence to support this hypothesis, nor the hypothesis that physical health can impact your financial capability.
Mental Health Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between your mental health and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you have a mental illness or developmental difficulty that means you lack the mental capacity to make decisions for yourself in relation to money under the Mental Capacity Act and require an appointee, attorney or deputy to act on your behalf? Does it make a difference if you have a mental illness or developmental difficulty but can make decisions about money with additional support or adjustments? Or if you have the full mental capacity to make decisions for yourself about money despite having a mental illness or developmental difficulty? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why? Consumer Financial Education Body (CFEB), Ministry of Justice National Offender Management Service, Citizens Advice Bureau (2010) I mproving the financial capability of offenders - A guide for Citizens Advice and others. C onsumer Financial Education Body. 23 Royal College of Psychiatrists (2010) No health without public mental health: The case for action. Royal College of Psychiatrists. p.14. 24 University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. Non-technical summary. 22
25
3. To what extent does your mental health determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence A variety of studies have found there to be a strong link between mental health and financial capability. The most recent research suggests that those with mental health problems have much lower financial capability than the general population. Results from Mind’s 2011 survey of 878 people with mental health problems showed that 35.1% regularly put a budget together to allocate how much to spend every month and 19.1% regularly put money into savings25. In comparison, the Money Advice Service’s 2013 survey of the UK general population’s financial capability26 found that 86% are keeping track of their income and expenditure and 53% are saving each month. In 2010 the Consumer Financial Education Body27 studied the financial capability of offenders and found that higher levels of financial incapability can be linked to higher levels of mental stress, lower rates of life satisfaction and an increased likelihood of suffering from anxiety and depression. Improvements in financial capability have also been shown to be linked to improvements in mental wellbeing and conversely, deteriorations in financial capability has been linked to poor mental health. CFEB found that moving an individual with relatively low levels of financial capability to an average level of capability improves their psychological well being by about 6%; this is in comparison to how an 8% deterioration in wellbeing is associated with being divorced, and a 10% deterioration is associated with being unemployed. A study in 2011 by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)28 found that improving your financial capability29 has more of an impact on your mental health than a £1,000 per month increase in household income, and this applies to both men and women ( see figure 5 ). ISER used the General Health 30 Questionnaire (GHQ) as a measure for this. One factor to consider here is the influence of income; ISER found that the higher your income, the less of an Mind (2011), Still in the red: Update on debt and mental health. Mind. Ipsos MORI, The Money Advice Service (2013) The Financial Capability of the UK. T he Money Advice Service 27 Consumer Financial Education Body (CFEB), Ministry of Justice National Offender Management Service, Citizens Advice Bureau (2010) I mproving the financial capability of offenders - A guide for Citizens Advice and others. C onsumer Financial Education Body. 28 Taylor, Mark., Stephen Jenkins and Amanda Sacker (2011) Financial capability, income and psychological well being. Institute for Social & Economic Research. 29 ISER do not define financial capability by domains, their definition can be found in the glossary . 30 The 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) formed part of the British Household Panel Survey questionnaire at every wave and is a self-completion screening measure for psychiatric disorders. High (low) scores correspond to low (high) psychological health and a high (low) probability of mental disorder. 25 26
26
impact low financial capability has on your psychological health.31 This echoes later research findings in the income levels and household wealth section, that shows how high income can mitigate some of the effects of low financial capability, but only in specific domains of financial capability. On the basis of this, ISER concludes that financial capability is an important determinant of mental disorders.
▲ Figure 5: Percentage improvement in GHQ scores by income and financial capability: men and women. Source: Institute for Social and Economic Research, 2011.
31
p.17.
27
Further to this, ISER found that starting off with a low financial capability score “exacerbates the psychological costs associated with being divorced or unemployed and of having low income. An implication is that by improving financial capability policy makers can reduce the psychological impacts of experiencing such life events.”32 On the other hand, it was found that being retired or on a high income reduces the psychologically damaging effects of having a low financial capability.33 In this research, ISER look at the varying impact that having a low financial capability can have on men versus women. It was found that men bear the same psychological costs as being unemployed and for women, it’s the same as being divorced. These variations are based on findings in the research that showed men and women suffer from life events differently; unemployment was found to have more of an impact on men’s psychological health than on women’s while being a widow has more of an impact on women’s psychological health than on men’s. Evidence gaps ● The impact of different types of mental illnesses on people’s financial capability, looking at how they interact with motivation, thinking clearly and the capacity to make informed decisions, as well as the varying nature of conditions in themselves. ● A more detailed breakdown of how different conditions of mental health relate to different domains of financial capability. ● Any more concrete evidence of the levels of financial capability of people with different mental illnesses and the extent to which that can be influenced. Hypotheses There is a clear link between mental health and financial capability and having poor mental health means you are more likely to have poor financial capability than someone who has good mental health. Having poor mental health means you are much less likely than the general population to regularly put a budget together to allocate how much to spend every month and much less likely to put money into savings Improving someone’s financial capability can improve someone’s mental health significantly, even more than raising their income by £1,000 per month and
32 33
From the Non-Technical Summary. p.17.
28
more than the corresponding deteriorations caused by significant negative life events such as getting divorced, becoming unemployed or becoming a widow.
Work status Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between your work status and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you are working part-time, full-time or are unemployed? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why? 3. To what extent does your work status determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence The latest evidence looking at the relationship between work status and financial capability comes from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey34 ( see figure 6 ). Here ONS define work status as economic activity and break it down by those who are employed, unemployed, self-employed, retired or inactive for some other reason. They found mixed relationships between your type of economic activity and your financial capability (which ONS breaks down into the six domains of making ends meet, planning ahead, organised money management, controlled spending, staying informed and choosing products). Those who are retired tend to have higher financial capability scores than average, particularly when it comes to making ends meet, planning ahead and controlled spending, however age here may also be a significant influencing factor. It was found that those with paid work performed best on the choosing products dimension and well amongst other groups on all other dimensions. Similarly in the FSA’s 2006 baseline survey35, those in paid work and those who were retired from paid work achieved the highest scores in making ends meet, with retirees also scoring highest on keeping track of their money.
Office for National Statistics (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012, Office for National Statistics. 35 University of Bristol (2006) Levels of Financial Capability in the UK: Results of a baseline survey. Financial Services Authority. p.36. 34
29
▲ Figure 6: Mean financial capability scores by economic activity: Great Britain 2010 to 2012. Base: All adults interviewed in person (n=32,092), except for choosing products (n=16,379) Source: Wealth and Assets Survey - Office for National Statistics, 2015.
ONS found those who are unemployed scored poorly on making ends meet and planning ahead but that they scored well on organised money management; again, low income is likely to be a significant influencing factor on these scores. Similar findings are reflected in the FSA’s aforementioned research, where those with weak scores on four out of five financial capability domains also had the highest levels of unemployment however this same group tended to have strong scores for keeping track. When it comes to types of occupation or as ONS puts it, socio-economic group, those from higher socio-economic groups tend to have higher financial capability scores than those in lower socio-economic groups across all the dimensions ( see figure 7 ). The biggest difference is in the domains of planning ahead and staying informed, where those in higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations scored more than twice the score of those who have never worked or are long-term unemployed. Controlling for other factors, these patterns still hold true, accept for small employers and own account holders who score more poorly on making ends meet but highly on choosing products. It is thought that these variations could be to do with the less
30
predictable nature of the income of this group. In the FSA’s exploratory study36, one interesting finding from the qualitative data showed that being self-employed means you have far fewer financial options. You are much less likely to be eligible for credit from banks and so are more likely to ask family, friends or informal community resources for help in this respect.
▲ Figure 7: Mean financial capability scores by socio-economic group: Great Britain 2010 to 2012. Base: All adults interviewed in person who gave details about their occupation (n=31,378), except for choosing products (n=16,064) Source: Wealth and Assets Survey - Office for National Statistics, 2015.
ISER’s research37 looks at the relationship between work status and financial capability within a two year window, using statistically representative data from the British Household Panel Survey. Their findings were that entering or exiting unemployment, you are likely to have significantly lower financial capability than average.
University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. p.66. 37 Taylor, Mark., Stephen Jenkins and Amanda Sacker (2011) Financial capability, income and psychological well being. Institute for Social & Economic Research Council. p.9. 36
31
Evidence gaps ● Need research looking in more detail specifically at those who are employed, cross-referencing to levels of income, levels of part-time working and zero-hours contracts, and how these impact financial capability. ● Need evidence of to what extent these different work status groups’ financial capability can be improved. Hypotheses Research shows that your work status has a strong relationship with your financial capability but age and income are also likely to be co-determining factors. Overall, if you are employed, your overall financial capability is likely to be good, however you will be better than most at choosing products. Having a higher managerial, administrative and professional occupation means you will be particularly good at planning ahead and staying informed. Being retired means you are likely to be better than most at making ends meet, planning ahead and controlling your spending. Being in a paid job or having retired from one means you tend to be very good at keeping track of money and making ends meet. If you are unemployed, you are likely to not be very good at making ends meet and planning ahead but will score well on organised money management and keeping track of your finances. Small employers and the self-employed score more poorly on making ends meet but highly on choosing products, and self-employed are more likely to rely on informal financial support than using financial institutions.
Environmental influences This section looks at how much different aspects of our environment can influence our financial capability.
Income levels and household wealth Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between your household income or wealth and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you come from a low, middle or high income or wealth household? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why?
32
3. To what extent do your income and wealth levels determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence In terms of the relationship between income levels and financial capability, the latest analysis from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey38 shows that individuals’ financial capability varies depending on the income of their household ( see figure 8 ). This relationship holds true for four out of six of ONS’ dimensions of financial capability; the higher your household income, the higher you are likely to score on making ends meet, planning ahead, staying informed and choosing products. When it comes to organised money management and controlled spending however, income levels do not create any significant variation in scores, unless you are controlling for other factors, in which case having a low income means you are likely to have a higher score on these dimensions. Other recent research by the Money Advice Service39 shows that people on very high or low incomes tend to be on the corresponding top and bottom steps of the financial well being staircase ( see figure 9 ). This is because of the way that your income affects your resilience to financial shocks, or in short, the income you have to some extent determines your ability to save and adjust your spending for when unexpected costs arise. These considerations have an obvious impact on people’s financial capability, at least in the sense of being able to handle periods of financial difficulty or to manage significant life events. Therefore, if you are on a low income, it is likely that you will have limited opportunities to save and be more vulnerable to financial shocks than those on medium to high incomes. In observing the situations of Citizens Advice clients who are living on a low income, a majority of income will tend to go on essentials such as rent, food and bills, leaving very little leeway to cut down and a low surplus for meeting new challenges or for saving to prepare for the future.
Office for National Statistics, (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012. Office for National Statistics 39 TNS BMRB (2015) Financial Capability and Wellbeing. T he Money Advice Service. 38
33
▲ Figure 8: Mean financial capability scores by quintile of total household income: Great Britain 2010 to 2012. Base: All adults interviewed in person (n=32,092), except for choosing products (n=16,379) Source: Wealth and Assets Survey - Office for National Statistics, 2015.
▲ Figure 9: The financial well being staircase. Source: Money Advice Service - The Consultation Response and Next Steps, 2015
34
These findings are echoed in the FSA’s exploratory study40 which shows that those on a low income have the least income flexibility. They describe how being on a low income can cause you real problems if you are faced with ‘lumpy’ expenditure that does not accord with your usual weekly or monthly spending patterns, meaning that you sometimes have to borrow to cover this expenditure. It was generally accepted by interviewees in this study, particularly by those on a low income, that overall, having a low income makes it harder to manage money but this does not mean you are not skilled at money management. Also for people on low incomes, saving and planning for the future is much more difficult because you often lack the spare cash, in some cases seeing saving as a hopeless aspiration. In comparison, those on high incomes tended to see saving as an integral feature of budgeting. The study found that it was important to distinguish between two types of people on a low income; those who, if they had enough money, would plan for the future and save, as opposed to those who would not do so. In terms of how much you can improve the financial capability of someone on a low income, it is useful to look to an evaluation of Citizens Advice41 run financial capability workshops and one-to-one sessions. These were run specifically for social housing tenants, a majority of whom (66%) earned no income or were on a low income. Many tenants struggled to make ends meet and had no savings but in all were not bad at managing money and keeping track of their finances, although there was some room for improvement. Following the training, most of which was one-to-one, this group improved their making ends meet and keeping track of money scores four times more than those who didn’t receive the training. A majority (76%) had also taken some action in their money matters as a result of their training; seven times higher than the tenants who did not receive the training. Learners were six times more likely to achieve financial benefits as a result of the training, making them on average £10 a week better off, and they also were more likely to start saving or start thinking about saving (22%), twice as many as those who did not attend the training. The trainees were saving on average an extra £11 per week, and many were saving to plan ahead for big expenses like holidays, insurance or buying a car. There were however no statistically significant changes to the trainee’s borrowing or debt. 71% of trainees felt more financially confident as a result of the training, particularly in relation to money management skills and keeping control of finances; this is compared to 13% of those who did not attend.
University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. 41 Citizens Advice (2013) Universal credit: Managing migration pilot final results. C itizens Advice. 40
35
Research by ISER42 looks at the impact of household income changes on financial capability, using statistically representative data from the British Household Panel Survey. Findings showed that a fall in household income results in a statistically significant decrease in financial capability while a rise in household income results in a statistically significant increase in financial capability. This is in the context of ISER’s definition of financial capability which does not use domains, but rather characterises it as “people’s ability to control their finances, make appropriate financial decisions, understand how to manage credit and debt and identify appropriate products and services”. An evaluation conducted by Citizens Advice43 looking at the financial capability of clients receiving employment related benefits provides some interesting findings since it focuses on a group of people who by definition, live on a low income. The research assesses how prepared this group will be for the transition to the new Universal Credit system by measuring relevant domains of capability, most of which are related to financial capability44, looking before and after receiving advice and support from Citizens Advice. The intervention involved group workshops or one-to-one sessions helping clients to improve their budgeting, managing change and controlling spending. The study found that before the intervention, 9 in 10 people had weak scores on at least one domain of capability while 38% had weak scores on all five areas. Following tailored interventions by local citizens advice centres, 52% improved their skills and abilities across all the domains, with 62% getting better at using the internet, 67% improving their keeping track and budgeting scores, 68% getting better at staying informed and 70% improving their banking. One complexity to take into account is how to capture people’s income levels, particularly in the cases of people who are self-employed. In their exploratory study, the FSA45 used the harmonised questions from all Government surveys to get over this challenge.
Taylor, Mark., Stephen Jenkins and Amanda Sacker (2011) Financial capability, income and psychological well being. Institute for Social & Economic Research. p.9. 43 Citizens Advice (2013) Universal credit: Managing migration pilot final results. C itizens Advice 44 This is where the main domains of capability measured were keeping track (of money on a monthly basis), budgeting (managing changes to money received), banking (using an account to pay priority bills on time), staying informed (I get the help I need and can keep up to date) and using the internet (to manage an online banking account for universal credit). 45 University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. 42
36
The ONS Wealth and Assets Survey46 looks at 4 different types of household wealth and their impact on different domains of financial capability: 1. Net financial wealth - any financial assets, such as savings, less any financial liabilities. 2. Total private pension wealth - comprising of occupational and personal pension wealth. 3. Wealth from physical assets - such as household contents, vehicles and other valuables. 4. Net property wealth - property, such as housing assets, less any property liabilities. The study found that overall, there is a strong relationship between your household wealth and financial capability, in that the higher it is, the higher your score is likely to be for the domains of making ends meet, planning ahead, staying informed and choosing products ( see figure 10 ). Net financial health has a particularly strong positive relationship with making ends meet and planning ahead. When it comes to controlling spending however, those with higher wealth still tend to have higher scores. On the choosing products dimension, the research showed that those in the least financially wealthy houses scored better than those in the wealthiest houses. Those in the second least wealthiest houses by property also scored highly in this dimension but had poor scores on the staying informed dimension. Controlling for other factors, the total financial wealth of a household has the strongest influence over someone’s financial capability, where being in the highest wealth quintile means you score much higher on making ends meet (2 points difference) and planning ahead (1.5 points difference) than those in the lowest wealth quintile.
Office for National Statistics, (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012. Office for National Statistics 46
37
▲ Figure 10: Mean financial capability scores, by quintile of household wealth: Great Britain 2010 to 2012. Base: All adults interviewed in person (n=32,092), except for choosing products (n=16,379) Based on data from the Wealth and Assets Survey- Office for National Statistics, 2015.
Gaps in evidence ● A detailed, qualitative exploration into why different levels of income influence financial capability in the way that they do.
38
● Research to test to what extent can you change the financial capability of people coming from different types of household wealth. ● Need to look at the relationship between having a fixed income and financial capability, and the relationship between this and the effect of life events and financial shocks on financial capability. Hypotheses Research shows that your income levels have a strong relationship with your level of financial capability, even when controlling for other factors. This is particularly the case if you are on a low income; if this is your situation, you are likely to be better than most other people at organised money management and controlling your spending. Having a low income also means you are more restricted in terms of how much you can save and have less of an opportunity to prepare for financial shocks and life events. In terms of the other four domains, the higher your household income, the higher you are likely to score on making ends meet, planning ahead, staying informed and choosing products. When it comes to your household wealth, the higher it is, the higher your financial capability is likely to be, particularly when it comes to making ends meet, planning ahead, staying informed and choosing products. If you have the opportunity to increase your income, you also have the opportunity to increase your financial capability. Conversely if you are vulnerable to falls in income, it is likely your financial capability will fall as well. In terms of how much you can improve someone’s financial capability, there is a wealth of research to show that you can have a great impact, particularly on the lives of those who live on a low income. This is particularly the case in the financial capability domains of the confidence to deal with financial matters, making ends meet, keeping track of money, achieving financial benefits and therefore increasing income, and increasing saving to help plan ahead for life events.
Deprivation Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between the level of deprivation in your area and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you live in a lower level super output area (LSOA) that is in the country’s most deprived bottom 10% of the indices of multiple deprivation (IMD), the least deprived top 10% or somewhere between those? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why?
39
3. To what extent does the level of deprivation in your area determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence Currently there is no immediate evidence to support the idea that deprivation specifically could have an impact on people’s financial capability apart from the related domains discussed earlier to do with income, literacy, numeracy and mental health. In their 2006 baseline survey, the FSA explored the relationship between people’s geo-demographic characteristics and financial capability using the ACORN classification system47. They found that the main differences were seen in the areas of planning ahead, choosing products and staying informed. Findings in relation to planning ahead were down to other factors such as work status and income rather than it being because of the neighbourhood in which you might live, when controlling for other factors. In terms of choosing products, those living in an area of wealthy achievers were more likely to score high, whereas in relation to staying informed, those living in hard pressed areas scored significantly lower than those in more well-off areas, even when controlling for other characteristics, suggesting that there is a local area effect in these particular domains of financial capability for these types of groups. Significant differences were not found in the other domains examined in this research (making ends meet and keeping track). Evidence gaps ● More detailed analysis is required to fully investigate the relationship between deprivation and financial capability by looking at the other elements that contribute to deprivation, including health deprivation, physical health, disability, skills and training, barriers to housing and services, crime and living environment. Hypotheses Living in an area where most of the people living there are hard-pressed means you are much more likely to have a low score on planning ahead and living in an area where most people are wealthy achievers means you are much more likely to score highly on choosing products. Other than that, there is not enough evidence to develop a hypothesis on the relationship between deprivation and financial capability.
ACORN stands for ‘A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods’ and provides detailed categories for the type of neighbourhood each person lives in. In this research, the FSA used five aggregate categories described in ACORN: ‘wealthy achievers’, ‘urban prosperity’, ‘comfortably off’, ‘moderate means’ and ‘hard pressed’. 47
40
Household type Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between your household type and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you are a couple with children, a couple without children, or if you are single? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why? 3. To what extent does your household size determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence The ONS examines the relationship between household type and financial capability in their latest Wealth and Assets Survey release48 ( see figure 11 ) and finds that single and couple households perform best across all financial capability domains apart from on choosing products where single-adult households perform least well. Couples, whether they have dependent or non-dependent children, perform particularly well in comparison to others on staying informed. Lone parents of dependent children perform least well on all domains, particularly on making ends meet, however when it comes to organised money management this group performs better than all other household types. This may reflect the combined effect of having an increased demand on finances and the absence of two incomes to support this, necessitating having to keep a more careful eye on finances.
Office for National Statistics, (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012. Office for National Statistics 48
41
▲ Figure 11: Mean financial capability scores by household type: Great Britain 2010 to 2012. Base: All adults interviewed in person (n=32,092), except for choosing products (n=16,379) Source: Wealth and Assets Survey - Office for National Statistics, 2015.
In terms of financial behaviours, the FSA’s exploratory study49 make an observation about couples’ financial behaviours in that they tend to combine their resources, with joint savings, investments, mortgages and credit commitments. In a study in 2004, the FSA50 found that young people between the ages of 15 and 18 tend to rely on their parents as their primary source of information on financial matters. This has implications when considering measuring the financial capability of individuals; other outside influences need to be taken into account. This was taken into consideration by the FSA when they assessed individuals’ financial capability where often responsibilities for managing the family budget may be shared, therefore outcomes were assessed at family level and looked at the appropriateness of individuals’ decisions about relying on someone else to make their financial decisions for them.
University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. p.38. 50 Financial Services Authority (2004) Young people and financial matters. FSA Consumer Research Report 25. 49
42
The same study also found that for a large proportion of South Asian households, three generations of the family will live together, further dispersing potential responsibility for the different aspects of a household’s money management. Another cultural consideration to take into account when looking at household type was that about half of Black Caribbean and Black African households consists of single parents, usually single mothers, and often the parent will be involved in multiple relationships. In South Asian and Chinese culture, when it comes to planning for retirement, often it is expected that extended family will look after you, precluding any individual considerations about going to a residential home or care costs, where rather this is a collective concern and financial cost shared by the family. Furthermore, when extended families more generally live together, there tends to be more of a culture of co-dependency when it comes to finances51. Overall, the study emphasises the importance of taking into consideration cultural influences in family set-ups when assessing a person’s financial capability. Other findings from the FSA’s 2006 baseline survey52 found that people’s household type in and of itself isn’t a determining factor for their financial capability unless looked at in combination with other factors such as household income, material wealth and age. Citizens Advice’s Quids in evaluation53 found that being in a family means you are also likely to benefit from family members’ financial capability training and improvements. Of the social housing tenants who received one-to-one and group financial capability training in this study, six in ten (58%) shared some of the information and learning they received with their friends or family members. Evidence gaps ● Further study into the extent to which your household type can affect the extent to which you can change your financial capability. Hypotheses There is a strong relationship between your household type and your financial capability however there are additional co-influencing factors such as culture, income, material wealth and age. These additional factors change the emphasis you may place on certain domains of financial capability, because of the way that they effect your day-to-day decision-making landscape.
University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. p.46. 52 University of Bristol (2006) Levels of Financial Capability in the UK: Results of a baseline survey. Financial Services Authority. 53 Collard, Sharon., with Andrea Finney, David Hayes and Sara Davies (2012) Quids in: The impact of financial skills training for social housing tenants. Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol. 51
43
Being in a couple places you in good stead to have the best financial capability in terms of making ends meet, planning ahead, organised money management, controlled spending, you will perform particularly well on staying informed, but you are likely to score less well on choosing products. Being a lone parent means you will perform least well on all the financial capability domains, particularly on making ends meet, however when it comes to organised money management you are likely to perform better than all other household types. It is important to look at household set-up when assessing the impact of interventions, since families often operate collectively when it comes to financial decision making or the division of labour. Therefore outcomes should be assessed on this collective, rather than individual level.
Housing tenure Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between your housing tenure and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you are homeless, renting, or a mortgagor? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why? 3. To what extent does your housing tenure determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence There is very little recent evidence investigating the relationship between housing tenure and a person’s financial capability other than findings from the FSA’s 2006 baseline survey54. Here they break down housing tenure by those who own their home outright, own their home with a mortgage, rent from a private landlord, rent from a local authority or housing association, live with family or have another living arrangement. It was found that those who owned their home outright performed best on making ends meet but had average scores on keeping track of money; this group also tend to be older and more affluent. Tenants however tended to score better than average on keeping track of money but less well than home owners on making ends meet. Overall those renting, living with family or in some other living arrangement scored significantly below average on planning ahead, choosing products and keeping informed, while those who own a home, whether outright or with a mortgage, scored above average on these domains. These findings hold true University of Bristol (2006) Levels of Financial Capability in the UK: Results of a baseline survey. Financial Services Authority. 54
44
while controlling for all other factors such as age, income, qualifications and work status. One of the explanations the study provides for this pattern is the ‘area effect’ where for instance, it was found that living in an area where most neighbours are experienced users of financial products tended to raise their score for a domain like choosing products. However this was not replicated for those living in an area where few neighbours were experienced users of financial products, indicating that other factors than those eliminated may be at play here in determining people’s financial capability. Evidence gaps ● Further research on the extent to which you can change the financial capability of people living in different housing tenures. ● How changes in household type can impact financial capability, e.g., moving from a single to a couple household, or from a couple to a couple with dependent children. ● Further research on the impact of homelessness on financial capability. Hypotheses The latest evidence shows that there is a strong relationship between your housing tenure and your financial capability, even when controlling for other factors such as age, income, qualifications and work status. Owning your home puts you in the best stead for having good financial capability across all the domains, particularly in terms of making ends meet but less so for keeping track of money, for which this group tends to have an average score. Tenants score the best on keeping track of money but along with those living with family or in other living arrangements, these groups score poorly on planning ahead, choosing products and keeping informed, unlike homeowners who score above average on these domains.
Financial control Research question 1. Is there a relationship between the level of control you have over where your money goes and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you have full control, share control with another person or organisation, or have no control over where your money goes? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why?
45
3. To what extent does your financial control determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence When examining the relationship between financial control and financial capability, it is useful to note that some studies have looked at a different definition of financial control than the one being used here. Sometimes it will be referred to as an indicator for financial capability, being defined as a person’s feeling of control over their finances and life more generally, or a person’s capacity for self-control when it comes to spending money. Here we look at financial control as the extent to which you have direct decision-making responsibility over your money and your household’s money. Financial control is particularly relevant in relation to children and young people’s financial capability where in a 2004 study, the FSA55 found that young people between the ages of 15 and 18 tend to rely on their parents as their primary source of information on financial matters. Similarly in the case of people on a high income, the study found that some rely entirely on financial advisors to make financial decisions for them56. Another observation in the study57 finds that couples tend to combine their resources, with joint savings, investments, mortgages and credit commitments. This then was taken into consideration when assessing individuals’ financial capability where often responsibilities for managing the family budget may be shared. In these cases, the FSA recommends that outcomes be assessed at the family level and should look at the appropriateness of individuals’ decisions about relying on someone else to make their financial decisions for them. The study also found that in a large proportion of South Asian households, often three generations of the family live together58, adding an extra level of complexity to who might be responsible for the different aspects of the households’ money management. Findings from research by the Institute for Social and Economic Research59 highlights the connection between your feeling of control and mental health. It refers to studies that show having a higher internal locus of control (feeling in control over your outcomes) means you are more likely to have higher psychological well being than those who have more of an external locus of Financial Services Authority (2004) Young people and financial matters. FSA Consumer Research Report. p.25. 56 p.52. 57 p.38. 58 p.63. 59 Taylor, Mark., Stephen Jenkins and Amanda Sacker (2011) Financial capability, income and psychological well being. Institute for Social & Economic Research. 55
46
control (where you feel like your outcomes rest with others or are the result of luck). On this basis, ISER makes the conclusion that low financial capability implies lack of financial control, where control is defined as having a weak internal and strong external locus of control and that thus having low financial capability will result in a negative impact on your psychological health. These research findings are relevant when considering financial control and capability in relation to mental health. It is important however to make the distinction between locus of control being a state of mind in terms of your ‘sense of control’ and a factual state of affairs, that is, your actual control over your finances, the latter being the definition we are more interested in for this section. Some studies looking at the role of cultural factors in financial control, for example the FSA’s exploratory study60 found that in South Asian and Black African families, women often play no role in managing finances and are usually in charge of the private sphere while men tend to have the traditional breadwinning role. During the research, women from this background found it difficult to answer many questions about finances in general. It should be noted however that similarly gendered divisions of labour can be present in all cultures, and is a factor to consider in the context of financial abuse, especially when this has a gendered dynamic, such as where findings from recent research by women’s aid show that women are more likely to be victims of financial abuse.61 This study showed that the less responsibility someone has over their finances, the more difficult it is to assess their financial capability. In these circumstances, the FSA used attitude statements as proxy measurements for financial capability. Evidence gaps ● Research on how different levels of financial control can have an impact on someone’s financial capability and the extent to which this can change. Hypotheses When measuring the financial capability of someone who shares financial control with other household members or individuals, outcomes should be assessed on a collective level and should also take into account the appropriateness of someone else making a person’s financial decisions for them.
University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. 61 Howard. M, and Skipp. A (2015) Unequal, trapped & controlled: Women’s experience of financial abuse and potential implications for Universal Credit. women’s aid, TUC. 60
47
Life events Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between the urgency or complexity of a life event or situation you are facing and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference if your situation or life event needs to be addressed urgently, you have a few weeks or a month to address it, or if you have over a month? And does it make a difference if the situation or life event you are facing is highly complex with a large number of interlinked issues, involves just a couple of interlinked issues, or is a single, straight-forward issue? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference to your financial capability and why? 3. To what extent do life events determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence There is clear evidence to show that financial capability increases people’s ability to cope with challenging life events such as divorce and unemployment62 and that life events are associated with falls in financial well being63. The MAS 2013 tracker survey64 discusses life events in relation to financial capability, in terms of how a new life event or situation that someone has never experienced before can mean they may be more likely to be less equipped with the appropriate tools to deal with that situation. The report discusses how this depends on a number of factors, for instance knowledge of sources of support and advice, whether that is from friends and family or organisations such as Citizens Advice. Coupled with this, it states that a person’s income levels will determine the extent to which they will be able to deal with the financial shocks that come along with those life events. ISER65 conducted some statistical tests to examine changes in people’s money management skills before and after significant life events. Using statistically representative data from the British Household Panel Survey, the research examines any changes across two consecutive years in terms of both positive events, e.g., household income increases, entering work and getting married,
Taylor, Mark., Stephen Jenkins and Amanda Sacker (2011) Financial capability, income and psychological well being. Institute for Social & Economic Research Council. 63 TNS BMRB (2015) Financial Capability and Wellbeing. The Money Advice Service 64 Ipsos MORI, The Money Advice Service (2013) The Financial Capability of the UK. T he Money Advice Service 65 Taylor, Mark., Stephen Jenkins and Amanda Sacker (2011) Financial capability, income and psychological well being. Institute for Social & Economic Research. p.9-10. 62
48
and negative events, e.g., household income decreases, entering unemployment and getting divorced. Findings showed that a fall in household income and getting divorced resulted in statistically significant falls in financial capability whereas entering unemployment didn’t, though it saw a fall all the same. Having an increase in household income resulted in a statistically significant increase in financial capability whereas there were increases associated with entering work and getting married that were not statistically significant ( see figure 12 ).66 On average when taken collectively, the life events resulted in small but statistically insignificant improvements in people’s financial capability overall. This may be related to the fact that over long periods of time, people’s financial capability tends to remain at a static level ( see section on temporal influence ).
▲ Figure 12: Financial capability by life events. Source: Institute for Social and Economic Research, 2011.
ISER also used this research to look at the relationship between specific life events and financial capability. Findings showed that those who enter or exit unemployment, or whose marriage dissolves, have significantly lower financial capability than average when measuring both before and after the event. Household income was also found to have a significant impact on financial capability compared to the average; falls in household income are related to reductions in financial capability while an increase in household income is related to an increase in financial capability. The study also found there to be variations in the way that men and women experience life events. It found that 66
Statistical significance was based on a p < 0.05 level.
49
men and women suffer from life events differently; unemployment was found to have more of an impact on men’s mental health than on women’s while being a widow has more of an impact on women’s mental health than on men’s. Evidence gaps ● Examine the impact of a wider range of life events on a person’s financial capability, e.g., pregnancy and bereavement. Hypotheses Based on the evidence to date, there is a clear strong relationship between different types of life events that you might experience and your financial capability. Broadly, negative life events are related to significant decreases in your ability to manage money both before and after the event, while positive life events are related to significant increases in your ability to manage money, both before and after the event. When taken together, the impact that all types of life events have on you can be that overall they increase your financial capability, however the causal relationship cannot be proven and it is not a statistically significant increase. It is important to note that life events impact different genders differently, at least with respect to mental health, which an earlier section shows , also has a bearing on your financial capability.
Geographical location Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between the region you live in and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Does it make a difference to your financial capability if you live in a particular region of England, or in Wales or Scotland ? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why? 3. To what extent does the region you live in determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence Findings from the ONS’ Wealth and Assets Survey67 show that financial capability does indeed vary region to region, particularly in the domain of staying informed, where people living in South East England have the highest score compared to those in Scotland and North East England, who score lowest in this domain ( see figure 13 ). The story differs when looking at other dimensions; with respect to making ends meet, people living in Scotland, South East and South West England score highest and the regions with the lowest scores are North Office for National Statistics, (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012. Office for National Statistics 67
50
West England and London. On choosing products, the East Midlands scores highest while Wales scores lowest. These regional patterns still hold true when controlling for other socio-demographic and economic variations, apart from in the case of staying informed, where East of England scores poorly in comparison. Evidence gaps ● More detailed analysis by county, local authority area, by clinical commissioning group area, Lower Super Output Area, and the impact of these on financial capability. ● The extent to which your financial capability can be subject to change when you come from a particular geographical location. Hypotheses Where you live has a strong relationship with your financial capability. Excluding London, if you live in the South East of England, you are likely to have a high score for staying informed and making ends meet, the latter which those living in Scotland and South West England also score highest in. North West England and London score lowest on making ends meet, while on staying informed, the lowest scorers are Scotland, North East England and the East of England. Wales scores lowest on choosing products while the East Midlands scores highest.
▲ Figure 13: Mean financial capability scores, by region: Great Britain 2010 to 2012. Base: All adults interviewed in person (n=32,092), except for choosing products (n=16,379) Based on data from the Wealth and Assets Survey - Office for National Statistics, 2015.
51
Channel Research question 1. Is there a relationship between the channel through which you receive support and the extent to which you can improve your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Can your financial capability be influenced in different ways by different channel types, such as face-to-face, one-to-one, group workshops, telephone, web chat, email and printed materials? If so, in what way do these channels make a difference and why? 3. To what extent does the channel you are using to engage in financial capability services determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence One piece of research which investigates the relationship between channels through which support is delivered and financial capability was conducted by the Money Advice Service in 201268. Here they examined the factors that affect how well people manage debt and found that with regard to debt advice, there was no statistical difference between channels in terms of their effectiveness at helping someone moving out of unmanageable debt. This was the case for when people used both single and multiple channels, including telephone, online, face to face, post, printed material, instant messaging and email. Similarly they found no significant difference between the effectiveness of free and paid for debt advice when controlling for other variables. The report caveats this with the idea that people will select different channels, depending on which they perceive to be the most helpful for their type of debt issue, e.g., people with unmanageable debt find face to face advice most helpful while those with manageable debt find telephone advice more helpful. This is mirrored in other UK-based research that shows different channels attract different types of people with certain kinds of issues. For example, in an evaluation of the FSA and the UK Government's 'Money Guidance Pathfinder'69, it was found that those who sought face-to-face services tended to come from lower socio-economic groups and had debt, budgeting and benefits issues. People who used telephone services tended to be from a broader spectrum of backgrounds and were looking for more general information. Meanwhile, people using the internet tended to come from a more affluent background and were The Money Advice Service, YouGov (2012) Free and paid-for UK debt advice. The Money Advice Service. 69 Kempson. E and Collard. S (2010) Money Guidance Pathfinder: A report to the FSA. Consumer Financial Education Body. 68
52
looking for financial product information, whether that was general information or product comparison. Citizens Advice research70 has also examined the difference between one-to-one and group financial capability training. In terms of getting tenants to engage with the training in the first place, one-to-one sessions were more attractive and saw more attendance than group sessions. When asked, trainees said this was mainly because of the increased confidentiality and that it could be delivered in their homes, which was particularly valued by those with disabilities and mobility problems. Printed materials, mail-outs, local media coverage and drop-in sessions were not effective at getting tenants to engage. As a result of the training, tenants were on average £10 a week better off, and it was found that those receiving one-to-one training were 12 times more likely to achieve these financial benefits from better money management, than those who attended the group training. The method of training did not however affect the likelihood of whether tenants would go on to take action on the way they managed their money, did not have a significant influence on financial confidence and both helped tenants improve their overall quality of life. The one-to-one sessions differed from the group sessions in one important way, in that they were more tailored towards the needs and preferences of the trainee. The research does not go into detail about the impact that channel had on other domains of financial capability. Other evaluative work completed internally with local Citizens Advice centres71 has also found that some staff find face-to-face work a preferable method of engaging with clients when compared to using the telephone. They feel this is because more vulnerable clients can lack the capability to use the telephone, while other clients do not feel comfortable talking over the phone or refuse telephone services altogether. In some cases, staff find face-to-face services as more effective in helping clients understand information and make telephone appointments in the first place. Staff delivering telephone support to clients have found it more difficult to establish a rapport over the phone in comparison to face-to-face contact, however it still supported the building of a good professional relationship. Other known challenges of engaging our clients over the telephone, particularly those with debt issues, are that sometimes they will avoid unfamiliar telephone numbers and they may not have enough mobile credit to return calls or retrieve voicemails. In terms of the way that different Collard, Sharon., with Andrea Finney, David Hayes and Sara Davies (2012) Quids in: The impact of financial skills training for social housing tenants. Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol. 71 Findings from an internal evaluation testing the effectivity of a telephone-based debt relief order processing service. 70
53
channels may interact with one another, in piloting a telephone-based debt relief order (DRO) service, Citizens Advice found that face-to-face referrals to the service from local Citizens Advice Centres were far more successful with 1 in 3 resulting in a telephone DRO, compared to referrals from webchat which had a DRO take up rate of 1 in 4.72 Evidence gaps ● More detailed investigation into the ways that a wider range of different service channels, when used on their own and in combinations, can have an impact on the different domains of your financial capability. ● The extent to which different channels have an effect on how much you can change your financial capability. Hypotheses The channels via which someone accesses service do have a relationship with financial capability to the extent in which different channels attract certain kinds of people coming with certain types of personal characteristics and situations, all of which also have a bearing on a person's financial capability, as has been found in previous sections of this review. Given that in relation to channel, populations will be self-selecting, channel does not make a difference to the outcomes seen by a person receiving the service, particularly in the case for debt advice and improving financial confidence. One-to-one work is however much more effective at improving people’s money management skills and imparting financial benefits than group training. Also, different people’s capability and confidence in using different channels can influence how effective those channels will be in helping them improve their financial capability.
Social and societal conditions Research questions 1. Is there a relationship between certain social and societal conditions and your level of financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Do certain social or societal conditions have more of an influence over your level of financial capability compared to others? If so, in what way do these conditions make a difference and why? 3. To what extent do certain social and societal conditions determine how much you can change your financial capability?
32 per cent of referrals from local Citizens Advice resulted in a DRO vs 24 per cent of referrals from webchat 72
54
Evidence There is a wealth of research that evaluates the influences of social and societal conditions on people’s behaviours more generally, however little of it focuses specifically on financially capable behaviours. The most recent robust piece of research was completed by the Behavioural Insights Team in 2012.73 Here they conducted eight randomised controlled trials to assess the effectiveness of using different social and societal circumstances to influence people’s financial behaviours, with the specific aim of reducing fraud, error and debt. Three of the trials showed significant results: 1. In testing the impact of social norms, one trial investigated whether tax payment rates could be boosted by informing people that the vast majority of others in their area have already paid; this was in relation to HMRC debt management letters. It was found that saying ‘9 out of 10 people pay their tax on time’ is more effective when included in a letter if it is followed by ‘you are one of the few people who have not paid yet’. Including both these phrases increased payment rates from 36.8% to 40.7%. 2. Another trial looked at the impact of highlighting key messages and social norms to investigate whether tax compliance can be increased amongst doctors. This was done by simplifying the main messages and actions required, highlighting consequences of not replying, as well as using social levers and norms. The simplified letter resulted in a significantly higher response rate (35%) than the traditional or generic letters, the latter achieving 21% and 4% response rates respectively. The letters which included information about social norms and levers letter did not show a statistically significant difference in response rates, which were 35%. Given that using descriptive social norms were so successful in changing behaviour in trial 1, shows the importance of context in employing this approach. 3. The third trial tested the impact of sending more personalised text messages to increase the rate of people’s payment of court-ordered fines. Starting the text with the recipient’s name increased the percentage of people making a payment in response to the text by ten percentage points.
These trials demonstrate the powerful influence of using different social and societal conditions to change people’s behaviour, and how contextual factors can mitigate or enhance this influence. It is important to note that proving the Behavioural Insights Team (2012) Applying behavioural insights to reduce fraud, error and debt. Cabinet Office. 73
55
causal relationship between social or societal conditions and behaviour change is a difficult task without a random controlled trial approach and rigorous regression analysis, given all the other factors that can be at play when it comes to influencing a person’s behaviour. Following these trials, the Behavioural Insights Team created the EAST model74, setting out four simple ways to change people’s behaviours: Make it: ● Easy - harness the power of defaults, reduce the ‘hassle factor’, simplify messages ● Attractive - attract attention, design rewards and sanctions for maximum effect. ● Social - show that most people perform the desired behaviour, use the power of networks, encourage people to make a commitment to others ● Timely - prompt people when they are likely to be most receptive, consider the immediate costs and benefits, help people plan their response to events. Other factors to take into account when thinking about social and societal conditions in relation to financial capability, include cultural attitudes towards money. These can vary depending on your cultural heritage, faith and belief systems, for example, the FSA’s exploratory study75 mentions how Islam forbids interest, i.e., benefiting from lending money to or receiving money from someone. The study also found that attitudes to money are associated with age, e.g., middle-aged people can be wary of credit cards but see credit associated with mortgages and loans to buy cars as acceptable as long as they fall within the family budget ( see section on age ). In the FSA’s exploratory study, it was also found that those on a high income tended to innacurately associate financial incapability with particular social groups, e.g., those who are unemployed, young people, lone mothers, people receiving benefits, and even ‘artistic’ people; in sum anyone they assumed to be on a low income.76 Although the findings from this study may not be statistically significant enough to be generalisable, it does highlight an important consideration about the kinds of biased social attitudes that may underlie some
The Behavioural Insights Team (2014) EAST: Four simple ways to apply behavioural insights. The Behavioural Insights Team. 75 University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. p.65. 76 p.28. 74
56
policy makers’ decisions about financial capability programmes, since they tend to earn a high income. Another important consideration highlighted in the exploratory study is how expenses can differ if you are black, asian or from an ethnic minority77. If you come from this background, you are more likely to have family and friends abroad you will visit regularly, either to just keep in touch or for family occasions. You are more likely to send money home to relatives or make investments in your home country, particularly if you are a first generation migrant. If you are Indian or Chinese, you are particularly likely to make plans to help your children and grandchildren with their education and support their living standards. The study also found that certain cultures offer alternative forms of financial support, such as communal pots of money, known as committees by South Asian people and partner systems by Black Caribbean people. There are additional considerations relating to how cultural differences can determine gender roles , household type , language and literacy in relation to financial capability, which are discussed in other sections of this paper. ISER research in 2011 makes specific evidence-based suggestions for policy makers in relation to financial capability. Their findings are that starting off with a low financial capability score: “exacerbates the psychological costs associated with being divorced or unemployed and of having low income. An implication is that by improving financial capability, policy makers can reduce the psychological impacts of experiencing such life events.”78 The effect of institutional changes brought about by policy makers and lobbyists can change the nature of the financial decision making environment, as well as the products and services available to people, which can in turn fundamentally shape our financial decisions and behaviours. So far, there is no research of note to test the level of influence that these additional factors can have on people’s financial capability and testing of this would be a challenging task given the plethora of influences at play in the policy-making environment. Policy making can have limited impact on informal economies, where people operate outside of financial institutes to earn and save money or use alternative, community-based financial support such as family, friends and communal savings pots. Operating on this level can also impacts on your willingness to answer questions about finances. 77 78
p.67. From the Non-Technical Summary.
57
Evidence gaps ● Looking specifically at the impact of changing certain social and societal conditions on specific domains of financial capability, controlling for other potential influencing factors. ● Evaluations looking at the relationship between cultural attitudes towards money and financial capability, as well as environmental and policy influences. Hypotheses Social and societal influences do have an impact on your financial decisions however there is little robust evidence to support whether it can affect your financial capability and to what extent it can effect change in your financial capability. In the very least, certain techniques can increase your propensity to meet financial commitments such as paying tax, particularly when you use reminders that have simplified and personalised language and include references to social norms.
Temporal impact Research questions 1. What do we know about how financial capability is affected by the passing of time? 2. What is it that makes a difference between improving someone’s financial capability for a few days, months, years, or even a lifetime? Is it possible to have a long term ongoing impact on someone’s financial capability? 3. To what extent do these factors determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence In terms of how financial capability can change over the long-term, there is one notable longitudinal study from 2011 by the Consumer Financial Education Body.79 It analyses data from the British Household Panel Survey, looking at change over a period of 15 years, from 1991 to 2006. The study found that starting out with low financial capability in 1991 made people twice as likely to have low financial capability in later years; similarly, starting with high financial capability meant you were more likely to have high financial capability in later years. The research also looks at broader outcomes while controlling for mediating and confounding factors and unobserved effects. It found that people’s financial capability in 1991 had a statistically significant relationship Consumer Financial Education Body (2011), The long term impacts of financial capability: Evidence from the BHPS . Consumer Financial Education Body. 79
58
with broader outcomes between 1996 and 2006, including life satisfaction, saving behaviour, income, lifestyle and living standards. Low scores on these outcomes had a statistically significant relationship with a low starting score for financial capability in 1991. Overall, men suffered more than women from having a low starting financial capability score, in all but one of the outcome areas, the exception being lifestyle and living standards, where women suffered more than men. Employment status was one area where financial capability was shown to have little impact over time. These findings should be taken with the caveat that financial capability focussed interventions are a relatively recent occurrence, only being made a priority on the UK national agenda in 2003. Since then, much will have taken place to try to improve people’s financial capability, which in turn may or may not have an impact on how much people’s financial capability changes over time compared to the period studied in this research. Another consideration to take into account are the temporal conditions when measuring different elements of financial capability. In ISER’s research into financial capability and its connection with mental health, they used specific time-based measures for various things, however do not provide a rationale for doing so. They used the same data as the CFEB’s aforementioned longitudinal study, and used the following temporal conditions: ● Being financially better or worse off - comparing where you were a year ago to expectations for the year ahead. ● Positive and negative life events - those that have occurred within two consecutive years. ● Work status - current and any changes within the last year. ● Difficulties paying for accommodation - in the last twelve months ● Falling behind on mortgage or rent payments - for at least two months over the past twelve months. ● Household income - monthly. ● Change in income based on GDP - annual. ● Measures of material wellbeing - number of items from the following that the household is able to afford: adequately heat their home; an annual holiday; replace worn out furniture; buy new clothes; eat meat on alternate days; feed visitors once a month ● Significant increase in income - £1,000 extra per month. Looking at how financial capability might change within the space of a few months, Citizens Advice’s ‘Quids in’ evaluation80 of financial capability Collard, Sharon., with Andrea Finney, David Hayes and Sara Davies (2012) Quids in: The impact of financial skills training for social housing tenants. Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol. 80
59
interventions with social housing tenants followed up with trainees at least 3 to 4 months after they received their training. Findings were that for those whose behaviour changed in a way that showed improvements in financial capability, these changes persisted for several months. Most of those who attended the training were still using the financial skills toolkit they were given during the training, either regularly or for reference, and some used the calculator from this toolkit to regularly check their budgets, household accounts or took it with them when food shopping to make sure their bill was correct. Evidence gaps ● Further examination of the relationship between different time-period lapses and specific domains of financial capability, with and without financial capability interventions taking place. ● Research to explain the extent to which time lapsed and age interact with one another as possible influencers over financial capability. Hypotheses Evidence to date shows that your levels of financial capability are likely to remain persistent over the long term, when looking at an interval of 15 years. This applies to a very specific historical period and may have changed since financial capability support has become more widely available over the past 10 years. So far, improvements in financial capability as the result of an intervention have been shown to persist for up to 4 months.
Combinations of characteristics Research question 1. Is there a relationship between certain combinations of characteristics you might have and your level of financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? 2. Do particular combinations of characteristics have an influence over your level of financial capability more than others? If so, in what way do these combinations of characteristics make a difference and why? 3. To what extent do certain combinations of characteristics determine how much you can change your financial capability? Evidence It was the FSA in 2006 who carried out the only cluster analysis of how certain collections of personal characteristics can relate to financial capability. They came up with a typology of eleven kinds of people, which is summarised in
60
figure 14 . The Consumer Financial Education Body81 also conducted an analysis of data from the British Household Panel Survey where they assessed how people’s financial capability changes over time. They found that those with high financial capability are on average in better health, are aged 65 or over, have higher levels of education, are employed full-time, do not have children living with them and own their home outright. Those with low financial capability have a high probability of being in poor health, little or no educational qualifications, are unemployed or economically inactive, live with dependent children and either have a mortgage or live in social housing.
▲ Figure 14: Identities of key cluster groups; ‘number of weak areas’ refer to the number of financial capability domains for which participants had a low score. Source: Levels of Financial Capability in the UK: Results of a baseline survey Financial Services Authority, 2006.
Consumer FInancial Education Body (2011) The long term impacts of financial capability: Evidence from the BHPS. C onsumer FInancial Education Body. 81
61
ONS research82 shows that, controlling for other influences, characteristics that have a strong relationship with having poor scores on multiple dimensions of financial capability, tend to be the following, the first three being the strongest determinants: ● Young adults. ● Having low household wealth, particularly in the cases of financial and pension wealth. ● Living in Wales means you are particularly likely to have low scores on multiple dimensions of financial capability, this is most stark on the choosing products dimension. ● Couples with children, whether they are dependent or non-dependent. ● Lone parents with dependent children. ● Living in the East of England, Scotland, Yorkshire and Humberside. ● Having no educational qualifications. ● Having qualifications that do not include degrees or above. ● Being in occupations that are semi-routine, routine, involve small employers or account work. ● Being long-term unemployed. ● Being male. And characteristics that ONS found to have no significant relationship with financial capability scored, isolating the influence of other factors, were: ● Household income. ● Economic activity status. In terms of the extent to which combinations of influences can affect how much you can improve your financial capability, it is useful to look to the findings of an evaluation of Citizens Advice run financial capability workshops and one-to-one sessions83. These were run specifically for social housing tenants, a majority of whom were women, aged 45 or over, lived in households without any children and were single adults living on a low income. Many tenants struggled to make ends meet and had no savings, in all were not bad at managing money and keeping track of their finances, although there was some room for improvement. Following the training, most of which was one-to-one, this group improved their making ends meet and keeping track of money scores four times more than those who didn’t receive the training. Significantly more trainees than Office for National Statistics, (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012. Office for National Statistics 83 Collard, Sharon., with Andrea Finney, David Hayes and Sara Davies (2012) Quids in: The impact of financial skills training for social housing tenants. Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol. 82
62
non-trainees started using money saving tips (55% versus 5%), shopped around more (50% versus 19%), reduced spending on their shopping (46% versus 22%), started budgeting (28% versus 2%) and reduced spending on household bills and payments (24% versus 9%). A majority (76%) had also taken some action in their money matters as a result of their training; seven times higher than the tenants who did not receive the training. Learners were six times more likely to achieve financial benefits as a result of the training, making them on average £10 a week better off, and they also were more likely to start saving or start thinking about saving (22%), twice as many as those who did not attend the training. The trainees who were saving were putting aside on average an extra £11 per week, and many were saving to plan ahead for big expenses like holidays, insurance or buying a car. There were however no statistically significant changes to the trainee’s borrowing or debt. 71% of trainees felt more financially confident as a result of the training, particularly in relation to money management skills and keeping control of finances; this is compared to 13% of those who did not attend. It is important to note that specific characteristics were not tested in isolation in terms of how they played a part in changes to people’s financial capability in this project. Improvements in financial capability may have also been seen by people taking part in the training who have characteristics that fall outside of the main ones identified above. Specific engagement strategies used to get people to attend the course may also have biased the characteristics of this group. Therefore findings should be viewed as an indication of how this combination of characteristics might play a part in the changes observed. Evidence gaps ● More detailed breakdown of how other key relevant characteristics and influences mentioned in this paper interact with one another in relation to financial capability. ● More evidence on the extent to which someone with certain combinations of characteristics can change their financial capability. ● More up-to-date data segmentation data stemming from the UK Financial Capability Tracker Survey. Hypotheses Various research studies have shown that having certain combinations of characteristics and influences in your life make you more likely to have a low or a high financial capability. These tend to be related to things like your age, household wealth and where you live.
63
Additional questions to consider The following goes over some of the additional, little explored areas that may or may not have an impact on someone’s financial capability. Support needs Is there a relationship between the level of support you need and your financial capability? If so, how strong is that relationship? Thinking about this in terms of the work of a Citizens Advice Bureau, does it make a difference to your financial capability if you have a high level of need, or need a series of sessions to deal with your situation, a medium level of need, where the issue can be dealt with in the course of one session with some follow-up work, or a low level of need, where an issue can be dealt with in the course of one session or less? If so, in what way do these factors make a difference and why? To what extent do your support needs determine how much you can change your financial capability? Ability or perceived ability to sort your problem out yourself. Digital capability With the increasing role of the internet and web-based applications to help people understand products and services and to manage their money, it is becoming more important to have these skills to support your financial capability. Previous research has shown that a majority of people who use the internet for specific information and advice are young people on a low income84. Increasingly, this digital divide is closing as more and more older people have started using the internet as it becomes more accessible with the wider availability and take up of smartphones and tablets. Considerations to take into account include digital exclusion, either because you may not be able to afford to get a computer, or because you have restricted access to the internet, e.g., because you live in an area with poor connectivity or other living arrangements that prevent you from gaining access. These barriers were found to be common amongst some Citizens Advice clients receiving debt advice85 and employment-related benefits.86
University of Bristol (2005) Measuring financial capability: an exploratory study. F inancial Services Authority. p.33. 85 Findings from an internal evaluation testing the effectivity of a telephone-based Debt Relief Order processing service. 86 Citizens Advice (2013) Universal credit: Managing migration pilot final results. C itizens Advice. 84
64
Relationships between financial capability domains In their Wealth and Assets Survey, ONS87 found there to be a correlation between making ends meet and planning ahead. They found this could be explained by variations in household income, which have a strong relationship with variations in these two domains. Unknowns, confounding variables and causality Despite rigorous regression analysis from the likes of research done by the ONS, MAS and FSA, these can only account for known unknowns that have already been measured. These leave the possibility for a myriad of other potential, unobserved influencing factors on people’s financial capability. In addition to this, observed variables may also be confounding, so it can be difficult to isolate where an influence on someone’s financial capability is coming from, which makes it difficult to talk about the level and direction of causation, e.g., does being older cause you to improve your financial capability or does your financial capability improve over time because of other factors associated with age, e.g., life experiences and psychological development.
Implications for Citizens Advice Here we look at how the findings from this review will have an impact on how Citizens Advice develop a framework for evaluating the impact of their services on their clients’ financial capability. This framework will be underpinned by the below theory of change model in figure 15 .
▲ Figure 15: Citizens Advice’s theory of change.
Clients So far we have mapped what kinds of people use our different financial capability related services (see figure 16 ). Next further research will need to be carried out to identify and segment the most common personal characteristics and environmental influences of the clients who use each of these services, bringing in the findings from this review as the basis for developing a robust theory of change.
87
p.27
65
▲ Figure 16: Audiences who access Citizens Advice’s financial capability related services
Activities and outputs In terms of activities and outputs, we know that we deliver a variety of services that involve different levels of financial capability focussed interventions. Figure 17 below summarises these, how many people we deliver them to and what level of financial capability intervention they involve. Service
Level of financial capability intervention
Number of people using the service 88 2014-15
Debt Advice89
Low
401,781
Training for the public
High
167,000
Integrated Money Advice
Medium
123,000
Financial Products and Services Advice
Medium
76,054
Integrated Digital Money Advice
Medium
19,973
Energy Best Deal
Medium
13,788
Training for frontline workers
High
8,500
Energy Best Deal Extra
Medium
5,050
Martin Lewis Integrated Money Advice Pilot
Medium
3,931
These numbers are not mutually exclusive as some people may use more than one service. Financial capability support tends to be light-touch when delivered as part of our debt advice.
88 89
66
Universal Credit Advice
Medium
2,239
Better Financial Health
Medium
1,153
Training for trainers
Medium
303
Pension Wise
Low
TBC
▲ Figure 17: Number of people using Citizens Advice Services which involve a financial capability intervention, including the levels of those interventions [High = complete focus on financial capability, Medium = partly focussed on financial capability, Low = financial capability delivered as a small or integrated part of the service)]
We also know that we deliver our services via a range of channels as is illustrated by Figure 18 below.
▲ Figure 18: Channels via which Citizens Advice’s financial capability related services are delivered
Impacts
To identify the potential impact of our services on our clients’ financial capability, next steps will be to gather detailed contextual information about the services, and as mentioned above, further segmented data on each services’ clients’ characteristics, to use this as a basis for deciding which domains of financial capability where impact is likely to be and to what extent. This will follow in a separate paper setting out the individual services’ theories of change for improving the financial capability of our clients.
67
Glossary of financial capability definitions FSA definition90 Managing money: making ends meet, or your ability to live within your means, so keeping up with bills and whether you ever run out of money. Also, keeping track of your finances. Planning ahead: ability to deal with sizeable financial commitments you know are coming, e.g., retirement, having a child or having provision for unexpected events. Choosing products: knowledge of financial products, attitudes to risk as well as behaviour and confidence about selecting appropriate financial products. Staying informed: keeping abreast of changes in the economy, keeping track of new financial products, changes to existing ones and knowing where to get help and advice. The money quiz: a measurement of financial literacy and product knowledge. Institute for Social and Economic Research91 People’s ability to control their finances, make appropriate financial decisions, understand how to manage credit and debt and identify appropriate products and services. MAS definitions TNS BRMB research:92 ability (skills and knowledge), mindset (attitudes and motivation) and connection (ease and accessibility in relation to financial products), as well as external influences such as social norms. UK Financial Capability Strategy latest update:93
University of Bristol (2006) Levels of Financial Capability in the UK: Results of a baseline survey. Financial Services Authority. p.4-5. 91 Taylor, Mark., Stephen Jenkins and Amanda Sacker (2011) Financial capability, income and psychological well being. Institute for Social & Economic Research. In the non-technical summary. 92 TNS BMRB (2015) Financial Capability and Wellbeing. T he Money Advice Service. p.3. 93 Financial Capability Strategy for the UK (2015), The Consultation Response and Next Steps. Money Advice Service. pp.3&6. 90
68
Managing money well day to day - being able to shop around, find the best deal, cut back when the going gets tough and budgeting on a regular basis. Building resilience. Managing money through significant planned or unplanned life events - putting money aside in case something goes wrong, such as losing your job, or for a long-term goal like a car or a holiday, for the costs of bringing up a child, and for retirement. Being able to handle periods of financial difficulty - being able to talk openly about money with family and friends, knowing where to turn for support and advice, and turning to it before it’s too late. Tackling debt problems. Financial capability tracker survey:94 Skills - skills required for financial management, including mathematical planning, self-control, decision-making and problem solving. Also includes emotional, cognitive and/or behavioural skills and capacity to engage in the necessary thought processes for financial management. Knowledge - of financial markets and sources of advice and support. Attitude - underlying beliefs and values that influence behavioural intentions about managing money, such as ideas about which costs are essential and which are luxury, or what is a priority cost or debt. Motivation - ways of thinking that energise and direct behaviour, including reflective (conscious) and automatic (unconscious) mechanisms. Individuals are motivated to take action through a conscious decision. Opportunity - external social and physical factors that either prompt people’s behaviour around finances or make it possible, including a person’s networks of family, friends or colleagues, and the availability of the internet, smart phones and advice services to that group or individual. ONS definition95 Making ends meet: A person's ability to live within their means. Someone who is highly capable on this dimension can make their money last until the end of the month, is keeping up with the payments on household bills and any credit
Ipsos MORI, The Money Advice Service (2013) The Financial Capability of the UK. T he Money Advice Service. p.6-8. 95 Office for National Statistics (2015) Financial capability in Great Britain 2010-2012, Office for National Statistics. p.2-3. 94
69
commitments and has more money in savings than they owe in consumer credit. Planning ahead: The extent to which someone makes provision for future expenditure from current income. Someone who is highly capable on this dimension saves up for major planned expenditure and makes sure they have money saved for a “rainy day”. Organised money management: The extent to which someone knows how much they spend day to day. A highly capable person on this dimension knows, to within 1 or 2 pounds, their bank balance or the cash they have available for everyday spending. Controlled spending: A person's attitudinal preference for longer-term financial security over current spending capacity. A highly capable person on this dimension is someone who prefers to protect a good standard of living for the future rather than prioritise spending for today. Staying informed: The extent to which someone keeps up to date with changes in the wider economy. Someone who is capable on this dimension keeps a close eye on several sources of economic (like inflation), monetary (such as interest rates), and fiscal (such as taxation) conditions. Choosing products: The sources of information (if any) someone uses when buying a financial product that most influence their purchase decision. This dimension comprised a single survey question which was only asked of survey respondents who had bought a financial product within the last 2 years. A highly capable person will have shopped around, consulted best buy information or used a comparison website. Go to introduction