SHS and The Worshipful Company of International Bankers support families in poverty
News article from October 13, 2017
The Worshipful Company of International Bankers and School-Home Support started working together in September 2016. Since then, we have worked together to develop a project designed to ensure children and families living in poverty are supported when it comes to financial literacy and economic well-being.
Child poverty is currently at its highest level for seven years and forecast to continue growing. With an average of 9 children in every class of 30 living in poverty, support from schools is desperately needed to ensure children and families from deprived backgrounds receive the targeted support they need.
At a time when school budgets are also facing significant funding cuts, research suggests that schools with the highest number of poor pupils are likely to be the hardest hit. This means that schools increasingly unable to provide the necessary support to children and families living in poverty.
The government’s Child Poverty Strategy 2014-17 acknowledged that “low-income families are more likely to be in debt and may struggle to pay household bills and expenses, and agrees that financial education is important in helping more families to manage their money.” Many families living in poverty don’t know who they can turn to when things become difficult. School-Home Support can play a vital role in supporting these families to take control of their situations.
To address this issue, The Worshipful Company of International Bankers and School-Home Support have recently developed a project designed to equip SHS Practitioners with the necessary skills to provide families with a high-level of support around financial literacy and economic well-being. This will be achieved through funding SHS Practitioners to undertake specialist training, and the ongoing support and supervision in this area.
The project, starting in October 2017, represents the next step in an exciting, growing partnership between The Worshipful Company of International Bankers and School-Home Support. If successful it could lead to further development of the relationship by providing support for financial literacy that would widen and extend this initial programme.
“So many of the families we work with are in need of support when it comes to financial literacy and economic well-being. We are working with the The Worshipful Company of International Bankers to meet this need, and to ensure our practitioners are able to provide families with excellent support in this area.”
– Jaine Stannard, Chief Executive, School-Home Support
The Worshipful Company of International Bankers is a Livery Company of The City of London whose members are current or former members of the financial services industry, primarily banking. For more information visit www.internationalbankers.org.uk.