Money and Pensions Service

The vision of the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) is everyone making the most of their money and pensions. We are an arm’s length body of government committed to ensuring that people throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime.

MaPS leads delivery of the 10 year UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing, working with key sectors to achieve five national goals. One of these is a goal to ensure that, by 2030, two million more children and young people in the UK are receiving a meaningful financial education.

Talk Money Week 9^th – 13^th November

Talk Money Week is an annual campaign coordinated by MaPS to get the nation talking about money and will take place on 9-13 November. The week provides a platform to have a conversation about money between families and friends, at work or at school. Our goal is to turn talking about money from one of the UK’s least favourite topics into something commonplace.

Talk Money with Children and Young People

Another way of supporting young people to learn about money during the week will be promotion of Child Trust Funds. The first Child Trust Fund matured on 1 September this year, and many more will continue to mature until 2029 – over six million young people across the UK have a Child Trust Fund, and between 50,000 and 60,000 young people will gain access to the money in their Child Trust Funds every month. MaPS are keen to support these young people, some of whom will be vulnerable and some of whose accounts are currently dormant or ‘lost’ – so that they know what a Child Trust Fund is, know how to find theirs, and understand what options are available to them in relation to what they do with their money. This is where financial education comes in – we can get really helpful, impactful, and meaningful financial education messages out there to young people with Child Trust Funds at key ‘teachable’ moments.

During Talk Money Week this year, several stakeholders, including youth organisations, Child Trust Fund providers, UK and devolved governments, and organisations across all four UK nations, will be involved with getting messages out there to young people about Child Trust Funds (and their parents/carers and practitioners working with children and young people). We have developed a set of financial education messages, co-created with young people, for stakeholders to share, alongside updated consumer guidance on Child Trust Funds: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/child-trust-fund-accounts. If you want access to the financial education messages, please contact Sophia.Spence-Cheng@maps.org.uk.