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”.
Complete this form to join the network - please note this is a Money and Pensions Service form, and your data will also be shared with the providers of Money Guiders networks in the other UK nations: