This survey has represented a major investment of both time and money. We would like as many people as possible to use and share the findings. The data is freely available and may be used with acknowledgment.

More about the survey and analysis

The Financial Capability Survey is a nationally representative survey of adults living in the UK,
conducted via online and face-to-face interviews. In total, 5,974 people took part in the research across the UK; this includes additional interviews in the devolved nations to allow robust analysis in each country. It repeats the survey conducted in 2015.

We are grateful to Critical Research for conducting the research and to Professor Elaine Kempson for her guidance on the analysis. This has also helped comparisons with her work in other countries.

How MAS has used the survey

The survey results have informed the MAS approach to commissioning and have fed into the evaluation of the UK Financial Capability Strategy.

We also used it to profile the Squeezed, Struggling and Cushioned segments in the MAS segmentation model. And we have included key questions from the survey in our outcomes frameworks and questionnaire banks, which are designed to help organisations measure changes in people’s financial capability.

Going forward, we plan to conduct more in-depth analysis of the survey results and to consider the policy implications.