Financial Capability: the Government's Long-Term Approach
The Government set out its long-term approach to financial capability in Financial Capability: the Government's Long-Term Approach published 15 January 2007. The report sets out the Government's long-term aspirations to ensure that:
- all adults in the UK have access to high-quality generic financial advice to help them engage with their financial affairs and make effective decisions about their money;
- all children and young people have access to a planned and coherent programme of personal finance education, so that they leave school with the skills and confidence to manage their money well; and
- a range of Government programmes is focused on improving financial capability, particularly to help those who are most vulnerable to the consequences of poor financial decisions.
The Government will also:
- set up an independent feasibility study, led by Otto Thoresen, Chief Executive of AEGON UK, to research and design a national approach to generic financial advice;.
- establish a ministerial group, chaired by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, to develop, oversee and coordinate the Government's work; and
- publish an action plan, by the end of 2007, setting out how financial capability will be integrated into existing services, particularly for those most vulnerable to the consequences of poor financial skills.
This document has set out the Government's broad plans of action for achieving the vision of more financially capable consumers. There is more detailed work to be done, both on access to generic advice and on how to use the Government's levers to integrate financial capability into education and other programmes where they will have the most impact. To inform this further work, the Government would like to hear from a broad range of stakeholders. Written responses to any of the issues raised in this document would be welcome.
The Consultation on Financial Capability: the Government's Long-Term Approach is available in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.
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