Low-income families in the North West have boosted their incomes with help from a scheme which provides financial advice in schools for struggling families.
After a successful pilot of the ‘Money Matters’ scheme, more than 300 families are around £500,000 better off – an average of £1,634 a year each. With one family seeing their income rise by a staggering £24,121 a year.
In the UK, an estimated £23 billion of benefits goes unclaimed every year because of a lack of awareness and complicated application processes.
Money Matters, a scheme set up by cereal giant Kellogg’s and nonprofit Resolve Poverty, delivers benefit and debt advice directly to parents through their child’s school, with the primary goal of maximising the financial resources available to low-income families.
For the past three years, a Financial Inclusion Officer (FIO) has been placed in each participating school, helping families claim the benefits they are entitled to.
One of the schools with the scheme already in place is Barton Clough Primary School in Manchester. The school’s Assistant Headteacher, Jackie Crouch, said: “Money Matters has added an extra string to our pastoral bow, and in these times that matters.
“All too often it turns out that families are not receiving what they are entitled to. One family at our school is better off by £1,000 per month. Most of all we’ve seen pupils’ focus and concentration improve.
“It ought to be self-evident, but children are better able to learn when they are fed, wearing the correct uniform and unencumbered by the sorts of money worries that ought to be the preserve of parents.”
Andrew Ridge, Social Impact Manager at Kellanova, the company that owns Kellogg’s, said: “Through our Breakfast Club network, we saw the opportunity to help parents currently struggling on low incomes who were unknowingly entitled to far more support
than they were getting.
“Over the past two years, Money Matters has helped more than 300 families in the North West claim over £500,000 in total in benefits.
“Helping parents to make sure they are getting the money they deserve impacts the whole family, putting the brakes on the growing number of children in poverty across the UK.”
Chief Executive of Resolve Poverty, Graham Whitham, said: “We are really pleased to share that through our work with Kellogg’s, Money Matters has been able to help families gain access to over half a million pounds in benefits.
“Our consistent presence at school events and activities, including parents’ evenings and coffee mornings, has been vital in helping families across the North West unlock the benefits they are entitled to. We look forward to seeing how we can further expand the programme to help even more families.”
Kellogg’s and Resolve Poverty have plans to expand Money Matters further, so that families across the UK can access part of the £23 billion of unclaimed benefits and get the advice they need in settings which are ‘safe spaces’ at the heart of the community.
