28 million people to better understand retirement planning by 2030

MaPS have launched a 10-year UK strategy for financial wellbeing which aims to improve the lives of millions by setting goals across five key areas – financial education, saving, credit, debt advice and retirement.

MaPS brings together three guidance bodies – the Money Advice Service, the Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise, and its mission is to ensure that everyone in the UK can access the relevant information they need in order to enable them to make the correct financial decisions, throughout their lives, with ease.

Five “agendas for change” have been established and include the goals to be achieved by 2030. They are as follows:

• Financial foundations – 6.8 million children and young people to receive meaningful financial education – an increase of two million from 2019;
• Nation of savers – 16.7 million working-age people classed as ‘struggling’ and ‘squeezed’ will be saving regularly – an increase of two million;
• Credit counts – Two million fewer people frequently using credit to pay for day to day expenditures such as food or bills;
• Better debt advice – Two million more people receiving the debt advice they need. At present, only 32 percent of those requiring debt advice access it;
• Future focus – Five million more people with a sound understanding of how to plan for their retirement and later lives, meaning that a total of approximately 28.6 million people will have this awareness.

Over the course of the first half of 2020, MaPS will work alongside leaders and experts from the public, private and voluntary sectors to establish developed plans for the five goals and how they will be implemented in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Once this has been achieved, MaPS will focus on tailoring its own corporate strategy to ensure that it can continue to provide crucial money and pensions guidance to its customers.

Caroline Siarkiewicz, acting chief executive of MaPS, said: “Financial wellbeing underpins personal health and happiness but it doesn’t happen by chance. We’re launching a strategy for entire lifetimes, aiming to expand financial education for children while ensuring everyone is equipped to plan for and enjoy their retirement. Key initiatives include increasing the availability of affordable credit, more payroll savings products and an expansion of free debt advice for when people are in crisis.

“The Money and Pensions Service will be the catalyst for a financial wellbeing movement, transforming how people engage with their money and pensions. We have a decade to make a difference and we cannot achieve change alone, so we will be connecting companies, charities and other organisations which share our vision, to make this happen.”