The Money Advice Service (MAS), which is now part of the Money and Pensions Service, had a statutory duty to improve people’s financial capability and help them manage their money better. As part of this remit, MAS led the development of a Financial Capability Strategy for the UK (The Strategy).
The Strategy, published in October 2015, was co-produced by a range of key organisations from across the public sector, third sector and financial services industry responsible for providing or regulating financialservices, and commissioning, funding and delivering financial education and money/debt advice. The Money Advice Service continued to develop The Strategy in close co-operation with these stakeholders and put in place a number of steering groups to help implement The Strategy.
Two key elements of The Strategy, relevant to this project are Children and Young People, and Young Adults.1
The Money Advice Service recognised that for many young adults, navigating the transition from education to the jobs market and more independent living can be challenging and impactful. Following the Children and Young People Financial Capability Survey in 2016, which gained insight into the financial capability of children aged 7-17 across the UK, the Money Advice Service sought to follow the development of those who were aged 15, 16 or 17 during the original 2016 survey. BMG was commissioned to conduct two recontact surveys amongst this older age group in 2017 and 2018 as the respondents approached and reached adulthood. The recontact surveys investigated how young people’slevel of financial capability may change or develop as they start to become aware of, or take on, many of the financial responsibilities that are associated with adulthood.
This report details the technical considerations of the 2017 and 2018 recontact surveys.