Financial Inclusion and Energy Safeguarding School's Programme Collaborative GDN Project

MyBnk are a leading financial education charity with a vision of a financially capable generation. Having worked with over 20,000 individual primary age young people to directly educate them in managing money and financial matters, MyBnk are age and subject experts. This is a collaborative VCMA project with Wales and West Utilities, NGN and SGN and a contract is being put in place as they are the only organisation who currently deliver this type of service in the UK. This project meets the VCMA eligibility criteria as it will provide energy safeguarding services including direct advice and support to households where extreme vulnerability exists, including those at risk of or living in fuel poverty. The aim of the programme is to help families in need today and build the financial and energy resilience skills in young people to help them avoid fuel poverty in the future. This project will also engage the dangers of CO and flag key support services including the Priority Services Register whilst delivering a forecast positive Social Return on Investment. The scope and objectives of the VCMA Project should be clearly defined including the benefits which would directly impact customers on the participating GDNs' network(s), and where the benefits of the VCMA Projects lie. Through partnership we can leverage this expertise to deliver material to primary age young people as part of their financial education programme from MyBnk. With a dedicated module specifically focused on energy safety, usage and efficiency a long term and successful partnership with tangible outcomes can be achieved. Specific areas of the UK and groups within society are more at risk and we understand how to identify these communities using publicly available data, for example the % of students receiving pupil premium at schools. Through our partnership interventions, we will aim to target schools with young people most in need and at the highest risk of fuel poverty. The partnership will look to use data on poverty that impacts children to support the identification of need. To deliver a programme targeted to supporting 9-11 year old children and their communities to build financial literacy skills and empower young people to use energy safely, efficiently and affordably, today and in the future. Our partnership will explore the connection between financial literacy and energy. We will help young people in across the UK understand the importance of energy efficiency, safety, and affordability. We will explore the connection between energy usage, social impact, and money. The partnership will involve development and delivery of an additional module to MyBnk's flagship Primary Money Twist programme to enable the partnership to reach a minimum of 2781 young people per year, for 3 years. The additional module will deliver material centred around: • Energy and the environment • Financial relationship to energy - cost and saving • Habit formation and behaviour change • Multi-generational impact - encouraging young people to engage with their adults at home about their knowledge and learning • Prior energy knowledge • Energy efficiency and core terminology Through an enhanced version of MyBnk's Primary Money Twist programme, young people will have an additional 75-minute session focused on energy - making practical links back to content focused on costs of living and budgeting. The partnership aims to set habits and behaviours of young children to ensure they are using energy efficiently and understand the environmental and cost implications of not doing so. Young people who take part in the session will also be provided with a family energy activity pack for them to take home - the packs will be designed to be in home interactive guides and encourage multi-generational education around energy efficiency, safety and signposting.