Gillian Cole, development worker, Down to Earth team at QSA
Gill has worked in the advice and guidance sector for many years including roles in housing, charities and children’s centres. She is a development worker in the Down to Earth team at Quaker Social Action. Down to Earth is a UK-wide service that supports people struggling with funeral costs and campaigns for change so that everyone can afford a dignified funeral.
Before QSA, Gill spent five years working on a national helpline giving welfare benefits and family law guidance to benefit single parents.
Gill has particularly appreciated how accessible the digital sessions are, which are offered by the Money Guiders England Network. When they are online they are easy to access and mean that she doesn’t have to use any time up travelling to and from venues. “The free bite-sized sessions are really useful,” explains Gill.
Being involved in sessions as a participant is not the only way that Gill has gained from the network. In February 2023 she and a colleague, Jim, led a session for the network on money guidance for clients who are arranging a funeral. They covered everything from liaising with funeral directors, benefits available, how to talk to clients and manage their expectations, grants available and more.
Gill has previous experience running training courses on welfare benefits for various groups including being employed as a trainer for a housing association and for a local authority’s welfare rights unit. But being involved in this session for the Money Guiders England Network was also useful says Gill: “I co-presented with a colleague so worked collaboratively on the presentation. It always consolidates our knowledge.” The interactive elements of money guider sessions were also valuable. “It is good to get questions from others not working in directly in the field,” explains Gill.
Gaining new insights is important to Gill. As well as sessions on pensions, she attended a session in 2022 on supporting clients with gambling addictions, where network members from Gamcare presented. Gill shared the insights gained from this session with her colleagues. “We have found it difficult to speak with clients about gambling issues at a time they are dealing with grief but we are also aware that speaking with them might lead them to access help at a crucial time,” explains Gill. “The opening up conversations tips from Gamcare have really helped to make us feel more confident in doing this a way that comes over as non-judgemental and still leaves the client in control and not feeling uncomfortable.”
Gill also came to the Money Guiders England Network in person event in March 2023 in London on deficit budgets. “It was really good to network with people from other organisations in person as we don’t often get to do that,” says Gill. From that event her key takeaways were that there is no ‘silver bullet’ to solve people’s problems and to “get people on the priority register for energy suppliers and look for ‘hidden’ money such as pensions and child trust fund accounts that clients might not be aware that they have.”
Gill is already looking forward to her next money guiders session, whether as a participant or perhaps as a presenter as she can both share and learn in either capacity.
Andrea is a community volunteer advocate in a central London borough.
She joined the Money Guiders Network England in March after learning about it in a mailing from Quaker Social Action, which runs the network in partnership with the Money and Pensions Service.
Andrea tends to give money guidance to a small number of people each month, including signposting, general information and exploring their needs with the people she works with.
Andrea has participated in five learning events such as on supporting clients as energy costs rise, learning about implicit bias and a peer-to-peer best practice session.
She sees participation in the network as a way of empowering her local community as she shares what she learns with local community networks, organisations and clients.
At a workshop on supporting clients with rising energy costs, Andrea learned about both practical tips for and suggestions of support services for families on low incomes.
As the workshop was online, she was able to share what she had learned with a local user led organisation for people with disabilities on the same day:
“It was an excellent session and well delivered with lots of signposting which is helpful”
Andrea hasn’t yet used the Money Guiders Competency Framework but she says that it is of interest and she also plans to access the free City & Guilds accredited course soon.
She feels part of a wider community of money guidance practitioners as she recognises that “as people that support others, we are willing to do the work to improve ourselves to better support members of the community”.
Ivana, Financial Capability Advisor with Citizens Advice East Suffolk
I am a Financial Capability Advisor at Citizens Advice East Suffolk. We cover a wide area from Lowestoft and nearby towns such as Beccles and Bungay down to Felixstowe, 50 miles south. I am based in Lowestoft but I also work occasionally in Beccles. I have been a part of the Citizens Advice family for several years, from training to working as a receptionist and then becoming a Debt Advisor in the Increasing Capacity scheme. When I started to look for a new challenge, I took on my current role.
I have had training and support from MaPS for my debt role. When I looked around for what support was available in my Financial Capability Advisor role, I quickly realised that the Money Guiders programme was important. The practitioner training was a helpful complement to my training with Citizens Advice.
It is a tough time for the people who we advise. The cost-of-living crisis and the energy price increases have had a huge impact on people’s finances. For some people even just the cost of groceries has doubled or more. The challenges are particularly stark around times of the year like Christmas. For many people it is difficult to accept that it is no longer possible to spend as much as in previous years and spending habits therefore don’t change to reflect their changed circumstances. This makes things very hard for people wanting to celebrate events with their families and friends.
We do everything we can to help our clients. We go the extra mile to help them with their financial issues. I sign up for any events with the Money Guiders England Network that can help me in my role. I listen in and I note things and, afterwards, I spend time working through resources such as presentations to make sure that I am aware of everything available and how to access help.
I also share what I have learnt with my manager, who shares resources and links with colleagues via our internal communication system.
I also appreciate the opportunities to network. It was through a Money Guiders England event that I first learned about National Energy Action and now I also attend their webinars and get their updates.
I really appreciate all of the Money Guiders England events and I encourage other money guiders to join in.
Lynn Crawford, Financial Inclusion Worker at Changing Lives
I have been involved in money guidance roles for many years. After 15 years in the Probation Service, I then spent almost 12 years as a caseworker with Citizens Advice. For the past 4 years I have been in various roles at Changing Lives; a national charity that offers its services to enable people who are facing difficult circumstances. These could include recovery from addictions, escaping domestic abuse, experiencing homelessness, trauma from loss, unemployment and many other circumstances.
My work involves meeting people from the north-east of England face to face who come to Changing Lives for guidance, support and advice.
Last year, Changing Lives published a report, Priced Out, stating that 80% of its services have seen an increase in people who can no longer make ends meet – food poverty is commonplace, and people face the risk of eviction. Two thirds of our services saw more people at increased risk of abuse and exploitation, and helping people transition out of homeless hostels has become ever more difficult because of the crippling cost of private rented accommodation. Monthly deficits of almost £200 make it unaffordable for people to live independently.
In such a difficult environment, I aim to stay up to date with all the latest developments, tools and strategies to best support the people I work with. That’s why I am involved with the Money Guiders England Network, which is delivered by Quaker Social Action.
Being involved with this network helps me hear from other Money Guiders about the challenges they face and I can apply what I learn to my own work. I have really appreciated the peer-to-peer groups where I have met new people and we have talked over many different subjects about personal finance. I also appreciate that I am able to share ideas and experiences from working with vulnerable people. I have been able to share with others tools I have found useful, such as the Vulnerability Registration Service and IE Hub, which have led to them being shared more widely with the rest of the network at other events.
I also value the fact that the network listens. For example, I have shared examples of how the network can be made more accommodating to neurodivergent people by sending out the agenda in advance and sharing information about when the links to join will come. It’s a really great feeling when I can see changes being implemented.
As well as using what I have learnt with the people I work with, I have also shared things with people in other networks and with my colleagues. The Money Guiders England Network is very helpful with useful resources and contacts. I hope to see you at an event soon.
Sarah Brown, Money Matters Advisor, NE England Housing Group
I work for a housing association in the money matters team. I mostly deal with benefits and debt but I have to make sure that I am up to date in all areas of money guidance. I used to be involved in the Money Advice Service programme. When my team leader suggested that we join the Money Guiders Network, I joined straight away.
Since I got involved, I have done the free online digital training course. It is comprehensive in the areas it covers for money guidance, from Universal Credit to pensions! I would recommend it to anyone who is giving money guidance. I have found it useful for myself too.
Although I only recently joined the network, I have already been to one event on dealing with debt. It is important to me to keep up to date with any changes in money guidance so that I give the people we work with the best possible support. Everyone in our organisation is just so busy, so it is helpful to have short events and a course that we can do whenever we have time.
I also use MoneyHelper. Last week I had a client who is separated from her partner and has three children. She has debts but she has just been offered a job. After I had talked her through different options, I gave her links to MoneyHelper guides so she could educate herself about debt and learn about budgeting. Of course, once people start on the site, they can easily look at guides about other areas that might help them.
I am looking forward to participating more in the network. I look forward to contributing to the community so that we can help each other and share our experiences and knowledge.
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