Less than half of children ‘have received a meaningful financial education’

Less than half (47%) of children and teenagers aged seven to 17 have received a meaningful financial education, according to a government-backed body.

The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) estimates from its findings that around 5.4 million children across the UK do not have the money skills they will need in adulthood.

Children living in social housing, rural areas and in lower income households were found to be less likely to have received a meaningful financial education.

And children with parents or carers with mental health conditions tend to be less likely to have received a meaningful financial education than the UK average, the findings indicate.

The measure of meaningful financial education is based on the percentages of young people who recall receiving financial education at school that they considered useful, and/or received regular money from parents or work, with parents setting rules about money and handing over responsibility for some spending decisions.

Research was conducted for MaPS between late summer and autumn 2022 across the UK by Critical Research, among more than 4,700 children and young people aged seven to 17 and their parents or carers.

The proportion of children and teenagers found to have received a meaningful financial education is similar to 2019, when the figure was 48%.