Introducing Life Event Interventions June, 2018 This presentation can be used as a foundation for your own; please feel free to add more slides and amend as you wish.

What are Life Event interventions? The difference between our general financial capability resources and Life Event Interactions is the emphasis on providing guidance to clients experiencing a life event. In particular, these resources are aimed at supporting clients that have experienced a change in relationship status, employment status, or health. The most crucial part here is the element of ‘change’: in line with behavioural insight principles, the moments of transition that clients experience - losing a job or ending a relationship, for example – can be key opportunities for us to offer tailored support.

Why is it needed? Existing evidence suggests that there is an appetite for money guidance during life events: Citizens Advice research shows that 4 in 5 people we help had experienced a change in their life before coming to us, with nearly half reporting a chance in their health situation. We know from Citizens Advice policy research into advice gaps that 48% of people said they would have taken money advice at one key moment in their lives if they had been offered it. That equates to 23 million people missing out on the benefits of money advice at one stage in their lives. Of this, 44% said they would have taken advice had it been offered when they were seriously ill, 37% when experiencing relationship breakdown and 35% when starting or changing jobs. Furthermore, the 2015 UK Financial Capability Survey identified a ‘broader need to encourage better preparation for life events among most of the population’, identifying a target market and need for a broad service that addresses this issue.

Where has this been used? These materials were developed during the 2017 Money Talks project: The service was delivered across Wales by seven local Citizens Advice, operating across eight broad areas. It took referrals from external partner agencies (such as Job Centres) as well as local Citizens Advice. Support was offered on a one-to-one basis, and was delivered face-to-face in local Citizens Advice offices or outreach community locations. Who made it? Development of these resources has been led by a financial capability specialist, and it is hosted within the Financial Capability section of the Citizens Advice website. It exists to help and support agencies – and local Citizens Advice offices – provide financial capability to clients going through changes in their personal circumstances.

How did Money Talks work? Money Talks was a service piloted by Citizens Advice in Wales We know that when people are going through major changes in their lives they might need a helping hand to get their finances sorted, and we understand what people in their situation might need help with. We helped people who were worried about their finances, or wanted to talk through their options and plan for the future. Appointments were free, impartial, and totally confidential. The Money Talks service built upon the previous Money Guidance projects delivered across Wales. 1 in 2 of our face-to-face clients have low confidence about taking action on their money matters 48% of people said they would have taken money advice at one key moment in their lives if they had been offered it Further information on Money Talks is available on CABlink.

What sort of Interventions are they? The resources can be used to support clients going through changes in any of the following areas: Changes in employment Starting a job Changing a job Risk of redundancy Redundancy Changes in health Pregnancy Short-term illness Long-term illness Changes in relationship Leaving a partner Separation Divorce Bereavement

How using these resources can work Delivered the service in convenient local locations - either directly in partner premises or in local Citizens Advice offices Clients should be encouraged to speak to us more than once if they need additional support The first appointment is usually intended to be face-to-face and can often take about an hour It’s worth speaking to the client again a couple of weeks later over the phone and arranging any further appointments they need Talk to the client about their situation and help them identify some practical steps they can take to find a way forward We can connect the client to further specialist support through Citizens Advice - e.g. debt, benefits or pensions advice This service journey is only an indicative one: LCA can use the resources as they see fit.

Using the Life Event maps Each life event comes with a ‘life event map’ that shows all the areas where we can offer life event interventions in a visual way. These maps are only for support use: not all advisers will want to use them, but we do recommend using them to: Explain the service to partner organisations: developing strong referral pathways is key for this kind of work. Explain the service to clients and let them choose their own route through. We would especially recommend applying behavioural insights to their use with clients, by pointing out that: - Other people in the clients position found these things useful - If they want to discuss topics not on the map, this helps develop the service to help others. For more support on applying behavioural insights to advice, please consider attending our training day ‘using behavioural insights to increase your clients engagement’.

A Life Event Map broken down Each area represent a different life event: in this case, in the ‘employment’ area. Each ‘bubble’ is larger or smaller to indicate which topic areas take longer than others. The central area contains ‘core skills’. No matter what the specific details are, anyone experiencing a change in employment of any kind needs to know these core skills. Sometimes a topic might feature in more than one area: this can serve as a useful ‘connector’ for advisers to guide clients from their current event into one that may follow. The box has links to the most common and helpful fact-checking sites to support the advice.

Location on the website The financial capability resource library is available on the public website: the ‘Life Event Interventions’ section forms a sixth discrete section that complements the rest of our resource offer. As well as having a discrete section here, there are welsh translations of the Life Event resources located separately in the ‘Welsh Resources’ tab. All the resources, maps and supporting materials are available for download in PDF format. To find the resource library, Google the words ‘citizens advice financial capability’. The first result (that is not an advert) will be the library.

What happens next? The Life Event Interventions are a big step forward for our financial capability and partnership work in this area, but is still an area we hope to expand and develop. The resources here are provided for all local Citizens Advice and partner organisations to use. New versions will be uploaded online at regular intervals, in response to continued feedback and practical testing. The Life Event Interventions are available on our website with the rest of the financial capability resource library. This presentation is also available to be downloaded from the same resource offer.

For any further information or feedback, contact us at Financial For any further information or feedback, contact us at Financial.Skills@citizensadvice.org.uk

The Financial capability And Consumer Education Team Bas Diablos Financial Capability Development Lead David Mahon Money Advice Development Coordinator 03000 231 582 Mel McGinn Consumer Education Development Consultant

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