Martin Lewis calls for universal financial education in passionate speech

Universal financial education is vital for the future of society, Money Saving Expert (MSE) founder Martin Lewis has said.

Addressing Parliament on Tuesday (10 September 2024), Lewis told MPs and peers that young people need financial literacy to thrive in “our highly competitive consumer economy.”

He said the goal should be for “every child in every school” to be educated about money and called for more training for teachers delivering financial educational content.

“Financial education is not about providing everybody with the answers. It’s providing them with the knowledge and the experience to know what questions to ask,” he said.

Lewis added that events like the widescale mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI), where people were scammed out of £40 billion, highlight the scale of financial illiteracy in the UK.

What is financial literacy?

Financial education teaches people how to manage their money, make informed financial decisions and plan for a secure future. Having a better understanding of money-related concepts allows people to make better choices and achieve their financial goals. 

Financial literacy covers a wide range of important life skills, including:

• understanding a payslip
• how money affects relationships
• judging financial risk
• avoiding online scams

Navigating money-related concepts and products can be varied and complex so being financially literate can help you avoid common pitfalls.

And learning about personal finance at a young age can give you an early awareness of budgeting, saving, investing and debt management. 

Is financial literacy on the curriculum?

Financial education was added to the national curriculum in 2014, meaning it had to be taught in primary and secondary schools.

But as it stands, academies and free schools, which are state funded, don’t legally have to follow the national curriculum. This means the majority of students leave school without the financial knowledge they need for adulthood. In fact, the Money and Pensions Service estimates hundreds of thousands of students could be finishing school financially unequipped.

In his speech, Lewis pointed out that many school simply don’t have the budget to teach financial literacy, which means that if they’re not required to teach the curriculum, they don’t.

Even the schools that do teach financial literacy often only stick to basic concepts, like money calculation, the cross party Education Committee has found, with many teachers lacking confidence in delivering content.

The national curriculum is currently being reviewed, and the government say that all state schools, including academies, will be required to teach it.

Our work toward financial literacy

We’ve been calling for better financial education to help close the money-skills gap between vulnerable youngsters and their peers.

When we asked our customers which topics they would have benefitted from knowing more about: 

• 76% said budgeting
• 68% mentioned understanding credit and debt
• 62% said saving money

Last year, we partnered with Young Enterprise to educate pupils with the knowledge, skills and give them the confidence to manage their money well.

Thanks to the joint efforts of others organisations like ours, in 2023, the financial services sector helped more than 4 million young people become financially literate.

Do you want to learn about personal finance?

We asked our customers how financial education might have improved their current situation. They said it would have:

• helped them make better decisions on saving and spending (75%)
• given them confidence in managing their money (68%)
• given them a more positive attitude towards money (51%)

If you think knowing more about money would be useful for you, you can download a free copy of Martin Lewis’ textbook about financial literacy for children and adults .

MSE also offer free personal finance course at The Open University, designed to give you the skills and knowledge to improve your finances.

Do you need money advice?

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your finances and don’t know where to start, you can always reach out to us.

We can help by checking your benefit entitlement, making a budget you can stick to, or advising you on any possible solutions if you’re in debt.

All the advice we give is free and confidential. Some of our debt solutions are free too, others have a fee.