Financial capability amongst adults with literacy and numeracy needs

Authors: Adele Atkinson
Funded by: Basic Skills Agency
Published by: Basic Skills Agency
Publication date: January 2007

There is widespread acknowledgement that consumers need to be skilled to make the right decisions and to protect themselves from making costly mistakes.

The Basic Skills Agency commissioned PFRC to provide a detailed picture of the financial capability of people with literacy and numeracy needs by undertaking secondary analysis of the Financial Services Authority's Baseline Survey of Financial Capability.

Using the Baseline Survey dataset the research provides an overview of the variations in financial capability by educational qualifications. The report explores:

• whether working age adults with literacy and numeracy needs have different levels of financial capability from the working age population as a whole;
• whether it is possible to identify particular characteristics that could help predict who might have the lowest levels of capability in a particular domain, and
• the aspects of financial capability that cause the greatest difficulty for adults likely to have literacy and numeracy needs.

The report is aimed at practitioners and policymakers with an interest in improving financial capability amongst adults with literacy and numeracy needs in the UK.

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Financial capability amongst adults with literacy and numeracy needs [ Full report (PDF, 194kB) | Research summary (PDF, 94kB) ]

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