Evaluation from a government-backed organisation has concluded that MyPocketSkill’s Earning is Learning pilot helps to address financial skills gaps
Use of MyPocketSkill led to greater understanding, confidence and motivation to save money.
Friday 11th March, 2022
MyPocketSkill is an award-winning impact led digital technology company, working in the fintech sector with a vision to create a financially empowered Gen-Z. It works through creating earning opportunities for young people by connecting them with households and businesses to complete paid tasks such as tutoring, social media management, music coaching, digital design and babysitting.
As part of the pilot led by the government backed Money and Pension Service (MaPS), MyPocketSkill expanded its ‘Earning is Learning’ programme to hundreds of teenagers across the UK. The pilot also included situation-specific behavioural prompts or ‘nudges’ in the form of short and accessible videos, to help foster positive financial habits.
Findings from the pilot, have suggested that this learning-by-doing approach is an effective way to give young people the opportunity to earn money, acquire skills in employability and become more motivated to save.
Feedback suggested that earning through MyPocketSkill increased young people’s understanding and knowledge of the importance of money, with 97% of users saving a proportion of the money they had earned through the platform.
Young people said they were saving more of the money they had earnt through MyPocketSkill than any other source of income and felt that the platform was a useful tool for motivating them to save money.
Other benefits were also perceived by young people including increased employability skills and experience communicating with employers, helping to develop their CVs from an early age.
The ‘Earning is Learning’ programme, evaluated by Ecorys, formed part of the MaPS’ commitment to seeing an additional 2 million children and young people receive a meaningful financial education by 2030.
Findings from this pilot, have contributed to the evidence base around the digital delivery of financial education, demonstrating how digital platforms such as MyPocketSkill, can be an effective tool to help young people foster positive financial habits, and earn and learn about money.
Matthew Harker, Cofounder of MyPocketSkill, said:
“At MyPocketSkill we believe that financial habits are ingrained at an early age and the best way of learning about money is through the real-world experience of earning and saving.
“We are delighted that this initiative with the Money & Pensions Service has helped to demonstrate the impact of our platform. We’re now working hard to widen the reach of MyPocketSkill so that we can connect even more young people with earning opportunities and setting savings goals.”
Sarah Porretta, Propositions, Insights and External Engagement Director for the Money and Pensions Service said:
“We know that children’s money habits develop early – between the ages of three and seven – so it’s essential that we understand what works when it comes to children and young people’s financial education.
“This is why we set up the Financial Education Innovation and Evaluation Programme, to help us plug gaps in evidence and knowledge. One of the most significant areas for investigation was to understand what works in the digital delivery of financial education for children and young people.
“We have been delighted to work with MyPocketSkill to test new approaches to delivering financial education. This will be particularly important as we continue to collaborate with policymakers, funders and financial education providers to take forward recommendations made in our Delivery Plans for the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing and work together towards our national goal of two million more children and young people receiving a meaningful financial education by 2030”.
About MyPocketSkill
In 2017, two parents with backgrounds in digital technology and finance, Matthew Harker and Zara Ransley, set up MyPocketSkill to address what they saw as the decline of opportunities for teenagers to gain financial independence and find skilled work activities.
Now, in 2022, MyPocketSkill’s earning and saving platform has helped thousands of teenagers and households across the UK, with over 1,000 young people signing-up every month. MyPocketSkill and its founders have already achieved notable success, being backed by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and Zara having won a global competition for female founders in fintech, run by Google, Atos and Deutsche Bank. Read more.
About the Money and Pensions Service
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) is here to ensure every person feels more in control of their finances throughout their lives: from pocket money to pensions. When they are, communities are healthier, businesses are more prosperous, the economy benefits and individuals feel better off. MaPS delivers free and impartial money and pensions guidance to the public through MoneyHelper, which recently brought together legacy services the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise.
MaPS is working to make sure the whole of the UK understands that financial, physical and mental health are all deeply connected. MaPS’ role is to connect organisations with the shared purpose of achieving the five goals set out in the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing.
MaPS supports innovation so that everyone can use the most effective methods to help people feel more in control of their money, targeted to those most in need and inclusive of people from all backgrounds. MaPS is an arm’s-length body sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
For further information visit www.maps.org.uk. Members of the public can get free guidance about their money and pensions via: www.moneyhelper.org.uk / 0800 138 7777.
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