Financial wellbeing awareness training for health and care staff and volunteers

A pilot project in Nottingham has found that training and support can help health and care staff and volunteers confidently ask people about money worries, and signpost them to money help and advice.

Many people who need support with their finances are unsure how to find and access it. Health and care teams can be an important route to getting money help and advice, but staff often feel they don’t know quite how to ask their patients or clients about money or where people can find the right financial help.

As part of Nottingham city’s financial wellbeing programme, 66 staff and volunteers in different health and care teams accessed online learning about financial wellbeing and were given resources to help them signpost people to money help and advice.

After taking part in the pilot project, staff and volunteers reported that they knew more about financial wellbeing and felt more confident to ask people about their money worries and signpost to support.

A team manager described the impact for one family:

“The family had no central heating, hot water, and all had colds. The staff member asked why the family had no central heating, which led to a discussion around their housing situation, landlord and finances. She signposted them to the Law Centre who then supported the family to address the repair issues with their landlord and also supported the family to get the benefits in place that they were entitled to.

When she returned for her next visit, the family could not thank her enough for her help, as they said that it was down to her asking questions that resulted in them having better living conditions and more money to be able to support their family.”

To find out more about money help and advice in Nottingham, visit www.asklion.co.uk/money 

To learn more about the pilot project, contact Dave McDonald in the city council public health team: david.mcdonald@nottinghamcity.gov.uk