Higher Education toolkit - Citizens Advice

Money during higher education

Financial capability toolkit

This toolkit has been produced as part of Citizens Advice Financial Skills for Life. Technical support and guidance was provided with thanks by the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA).

Special thanks go to: Anita Bailey Lena Smith Emma Cook Hannah Bundy And the NASMA financial capability committee

Although care has been taken to ensure the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the information provided, Citizens Advice assumes no responsibility. The user of the information agrees that the information is subject to change without notice. To the extent permitted by law, Citizens Advice excludes all liability for any claim, loss, demands or damages of any kind whatsoever (whether such claims, loss, demands or damages were foreseeable, known or otherwise) arising out of or in connection with the drafting, accuracy and/or its interpretation, including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage and whether arising in tort (including negligence), contract or otherwise.

Copyright © 2016 Citizens Advice All rights reserved. Any reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited except with the express written permission of Citizens Advice. Citizens Advice is an operating name of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, Charity registration number 279057, VAT number 726020276, Company Limited by Guarantee, rd Registered number 1436945 England. Registered office: Citizens Advice, 3 Floor North, 200 Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HD.

©2016 Citizens Advice

2 Higher Education toolkit/Sep17/v2

Citizens Advice financial capability

Providing financial capability for students at university Introduction These notes and accompanying handouts are designed to help advisers provide sessions and information to students at university, in order to improve their financial capability. The materials contained within are those that are unique to students who are at university; a full range of detailed and more general financial capability materials are available online at the Citizens Advice website. Subject information Advisers do not need to have specialist money advice knowledge or experience but must have a basic understanding of the money advice process, priority/non priority debts and their consequences, and be able to signpost learners to sources of further advice and information. This toolkit contains all the key information for the topics covered. Any additional information that is given should be taken from an up-to-date and accurate source such as: •

the debt and money section of the Citizens Advice website.

•

the Money Advice Service website.

•

the .gov.uk website

•

the moneysavingexpert website

And specifically for use of this toolkit with this demographic, •

the NASMA website has detailed information and signposts, but no funding information

This session aims to help university students take control of their finances whilst studying, and also to provide information to prevent common and easily avoidable financial mistakes. Trainers are encouraged to feedback to the Financial Skills for Life team with any feedback about training materials or resources. If you have any comments, please contact: [email protected] ©2016 Citizens Advice



Table of Contents Introduction to the toolkit ............................................................................................ 6 Engaging with students - for non-HE advisers ......................................................... 15 I’m a Citizens Advice adviser: what do Student Money Advisers do? .................... 16 Is higher education the right choice right now? ....................................................... 17 Student Finance in England, Wales and other regions............................................ 19 The Student Finance Notification form ..................................................................... 22 Loans – Tuition fee loans ............................................................................................ 23 General grants ............................................................................................................. 27 What clients need in order to apply for Student Finance ....................................... 31 Engaging with students - for HE advisers ................................................................. 33 I’m a student adviser: what do Citizens Advice do? ................................................. 34 Termly budgeting ........................................................................................................ 35 Have I done everything? - Quick reference list......................................................... 36 Tips to help a student work out their budget .......................................................... 37 Tracking spending and budgeting apps.................................................................... 40 Budget-building guide ................................................................................................ 44 Council tax ................................................................................................................... 45 Shared Bills and named accounts ............................................................................. 47 Getting help – the Glide website................................................................................ 49 Deposit Protection Scheme........................................................................................ 52 Student overdrafts ...................................................................................................... 53 Students and mobile phones ..................................................................................... 55 High cost lenders and addictions .............................................................................. 57 What support is available for vulnerable students? ................................................ 58 Signposts and further help ........................................................................................ 60 Evaluation Guidance…………………………………………………………………………………………62 Appendix One - Where to go for support on students experiencing domestic violence or abuse? ...................................................................................................... 64




‘73% of students surveyed by NASMA in 2016 said they struggled to cope sometimes due to worrying about their finances. Of this, the biggest worry was short term financial problems’ National Student Money Week 2016 survey




Introduction to the toolkit Welcome to the Citizens Advice Higher Education Financial Capability toolkit. Over the next sixty pages, you will find resources and guidance to help front-line practitioners working with clients that are in higher education.

Who developed it? Development of this toolkit has been led by a financial capability specialist in close consultation with the National Association of Student Money Advisers, and it is hosted within the Financial Capability section of the Citizens Advice website. It exists to help and support agencies – and local Citizens Advice offices – provide financial capability to a specific demographic group of clients.

Who is this toolkit meant to be used by? This toolkit is designed to be used - in part - by advisers working at local Citizens Advice, and also by front-line staff in higher education institutions. This toolkit is not designed to be used in its entirety by Citizens Advice. It has been developed with the specific aim of supporting the education sector in three ways: •

By consolidating guidance and tips from a variety of higher education specialists

•

By providing and sharing financial capability expertise from Citizens Advice

•

By providing a singular toolkit that agencies can use to support working in partnership.

Provided on our public website to all partner organisations, this toolkit is one that is split into two clear areas. Stage one is aimed at Citizens Advice advisers, as it contains generic information and guidance on current higher education funding and process that most student advisers will know. Stage two contains information and guidance that Citizens Advice is already well positioned to provide, but is also made available in a clear accessible format to support provision by other organisations who may be less familiar with this information and guidance.




What will the client journey look like? A client in higher education and in need of support is better suited to seeking specialist help from their own academic providers. However, such providers do not always have thorough expertise in providing robust financial capability support. This toolkit is designed to allow our knowledge and good practise to complement each other whilst increasing partnership working. A client that comes to Citizens Advice first: o

An adviser can provide them some basic information and guidance on their funding information and situation (stage one).

o

That adviser can also refer the client to their universities own student money advisers

o

The adviser may also provide more detailed general financial capability guidance (from their own knowledge and training, supplemented by stage two) to support the client.

A client that comes to a student adviser first: o

A student adviser can provide the client with detailed information and guidance on their funding information and situation (from their own knowledge and training, supplemented by stage one).

o

That adviser can also refer the client to their local Citizens Advice for further support and help on other issues that may be present.

o

The student adviser may also provide more detailed general financial capability guidance (stage two) to support the client.

Guidance on funding and support options

Student adviser

Citizens Advice


Guidance on broader financial capability



Can clients use it? The toolkit is written in language that is appropriate for clients to access and use any part of it that they wish. In fact, it contains many handouts and factsheets that advisers are encouraged to give to clients to take away. That said, some sections are aimed more directly at advisers. These sections will be noted clearly in the top-right corner of the page, and those sections aimed directly at clients will similarly be labelled clearly as shown.

or

Can I give an adviser’s sheet to a student? Of course, if you’d like to. Just be aware that the advisers pages may be a bit more technical and complicated that material we would normally supply as a handout.

What are these little codes?


AIC 20 –B D

Some of the pages will have a short code written at 90 degrees under the corner flag. This is nothing to worry about: it’s only for use by Citizens Advice advisers when recording any advice they’ve provided to a client, and student advisers can happily ignore this.



Stages of the toolkit

Stage One – Providing general and broad information on student funding, grants and options. Student advisers will likely have much more knowledge in this area.

Stage Two – Providing specific information and guidance on improving a students financial capability. Citizens Advice advisers will likely have much more knowledge in this area.

Toolkit structure and use This toolkit is broken into two discrete sections to make it easier to use with clients. Stage One contains information that student advisers will likely already have from their own experience and training. It will allow Citizens Advice to provide initial guidance and support, whilst also indicating how and when to signpost to specialist support available from their own education provider. Stage Two contains information that Citizens Advice advisers will already have from their own experience and training. It will allow student advisers to provide initial guidance and support on financial capability issues, whilst also indicating how and when to signpost to specialist support available from their local Citizens Advice.

Although Citizens Advice will maintain a co-ordinating role for the information included in Stage One, we recognise that we are not specialists in this area, and we do not wish to in any way detract from the expert assistance offered by other organisations.




Offline or online – Using the QR codes The financial aspect of higher education is very complex: even more importantly, it is a constantly changing landscape of funding, loans, grants and eligibility. After extensive consultation, we’ve decided that it simply isn’t sensible to fill this toolkit with figures and detailed technical information for several of the sections, as they will need to be updated extremely frequently (as well as making this toolkit hundreds of pages long!). Instead, each link is provided next to a QR code that can be used to find further information.

What is a QR code? A QR code looks like this. It will take the user to a specific web page, and saves us having to provide a long webpage URL that would otherwise be the only way to find specific online content.

How do I use them? Simply use a QR reader app on your smartphone: there are many free options available in your device’s app store. Open the app, aim it at the QR code, and it will take you – or even your client! - straight to the online content you need.

Do I have to use them? Absolutely not! We are still providing hyperlinks throughout the toolkit so if you are using it as an online document, you can simply click in and go. If you’re using a printed copy of the toolkit, the QR codes are intended to make things easier: however we will also be providing the website details in the text so you can search for it online. The drawback here is that we can only signpost to the main website in question, and not the exact page or piece of content.




Frequently Asked Questions Why is Citizens Advice making this toolkit? Citizens Advice provides a robust financial capability offer to the third sector. This includes a large suite of publicly-accessible and award-winning resources, a flexible program of training days and an evaluation tool developed from indepth user-testing. One of the areas we are constantly developing is that of our toolkits, where we develop resources and approaches to address the specific needs of particular demographic groups of clients. This toolkit is considered to be another part of that process. Why is Citizens Advice making a toolkit for other agencies to use? We acknowledge that we do not have the appropriate expertise to help many clients in Higher Education, yet many such people need support developing their financial skills and confidence. A toolkit aimed to support other agencies can promote partnership working when their clients require specific help that local Citizens Advice offices are best-placed to offer. This not only gives the client the best possible support, it also frees up resources for every agency involved to focus on what they do best. Why does the toolkit exclude several types of students? The funding nature of the excluded areas of study is complex and have their own particular characteristics: they would warrant a toolkit of their own. If this toolkit proves to be a success, then the Financial Skills for Life team will look at the potential for developing similar toolkits addressing the needs of clients in other types of education. How was the toolkit developed? The toolkit was developed by detailed consultation with National Association of Student Money Advisers, both via focus and via workshops. This consultation feedback was then collated and incorporated into a final version for inclusion in the financial capability resource offer.




You have a library of over 300 resources and activities. Can we use those as well? Of course: there are many other areas that both underpin and expand on the ones included here. We really hope that the adviser supporting the client feels confident enough to access and use our wider library of resources as they see fit. Who is responsible for the toolkit? The toolkit is the responsibility of the Financial Skills for Life team at Citizens Advice. Any updates or corrections will be undertaken by the team, and the final approval for the content contained within is also with them.




What if the clients need advice in other areas of financial capability? Citizens Advice provides access to a financial capability resource library of over 300 different activities, session packs and toolkits, all with a core theme of financial capability but covering topics such as energy, digital skills and consumer rights. These resources are located here, and advisers should be confident of using whatever resources and supporting activities they feel are suitable for their client. They are organised in bite-size blocks: an adviser can use them to put together a tailor-made session very easily. In addition, we offer a suite of three training days on financial capability. These cover the use of our resources, the approach to helping clients acquire confidence using technology, and technical financial knowledge: at the moment they are ring-fenced exclusively for advisers working within the Citizens Advice network, but this position will be reviewed regularly.

Advisers are encouraged to feedback to the Financial Skills for Life team with any feedback about training materials or resources. If you have any comments, please contact: [email protected]




‘In the 2015/16 academic year, Higher Education institutions in England spent £447.5 million on financial support, including £428.8 million on bursaries, fee waivers and “in-kind” support such as accommodation discounts, whilst spending a further £18.7 million on hardship funds, to support students in the greatest need’ Office for Fair Access




Engaging with students - for non-HE advisers This toolkit is designed to be used with students in university, who approach advice agencies such as Citizens Advice for assistance on their finances, or who alternatively approach advisers with other more general queries but a need for financial capability is still identified. It is acknowledged that it is difficult to engage with students about their finances, especially if they are not seeking preventative advice, or do not understand how financial capability can help their circumstances. However, information in this toolkit can be used freely in a number of settings to try to engage with any students that would benefit from advice regarding their money. This toolkit is not intended to help support the following student groups: Part-time students – Further information on supporting them can be found on

o

the website for their own university Postgraduate students – Further information on supporting them can be found

o

on the website for their own university EU students - Further information on supporting them can be found on the

o

Student Finance England and Student Finance Wales websites (page 31) International students - Further information on supporting them can be found

o

at the UKCISA website, linked on page 30 NHS students - Further information on supporting them can be found on the

o

website for their own university, and also on page 30 Students from outside England or Wales - Further information on supporting

o

students in Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found on page 21

Important - If your client falls into one of these excluded categories, although you can offer them support form Part Two of the toolkit, and other generalist advice, you need to refer them to their own university for any funding related queries at all. Do not use Part One of this toolkit with them at all. Remember: o

Many undergraduate students may be in further education institutions, not formal universities.

o

The financial situations of the above groups is too complicated for anything other than specialist advisers to help on: however, advisers may wish to use the other topic areas (mobile phones, domestic violence, etc) to support their clients in a wider context.




I’m a Citizens Advice adviser: what do Student Money Advisers do? What does a student adviser do? A student adviser is an independent and impartial adviser who responds to student queries but is also proactive in sharing relevant, targeted information to students and engages with key stakeholders. They may also have links to student welfare and hardship funds. They can: o provide information about funding available o help a student resolve problems with their funding and may also give budgeting advice. o Can support with information and guidance regarding bursaries and other financial help o Can help student develop good financial habits o Check a students residency status and often complex residency history to find out if they are eligible for student finance funding (and where necessary help the student appeal an incorrect decision). o Some student advisers may be able to provide specialist housing and academic advice. o They listen to students, present available options in a transparent way and then support students through these by empowering the student to solve their problems.

What does the student finance adviser NOT do? They do not: o Provide debt advice (in most cases). o Help students obtain credit reports o Support a student with an appeal to UKVI for Indefinite Leave to Remain. o

Give independent financial advice

Don’t forget! – Although student money advisers may not do these things, many universities may have debt specialists or international advisers that can offer further services. ©2016 Citizens Advice



Is higher education the right choice right now? For those clients who are considering entering higher education, there are some essential things they need to consider first: an adviser can support them with the following information. What funding is available and am I eligible for it? Most application processes identify potential funding during the application itself: if you want an overview without having to start filling in forms and so on, the NUS site here has a good overview.

How do I access funding? Information on access and applying for funding is on the main websites for each country in the UK: links to them are supplied on page 20

Is the available funding enough to support me becoming a student? This is really more a question of understanding how to manage a budget: the Citizens Advice budgeting tool can be found here, and tools like this are very useful in planning future budgets (most apps only help you keep track of your current finances)

How does becoming a student affect my benefits? The Turn2Us website has an excellent and detailed benefit calculator that clients can use to see if they are better or worse off by entering higher education. And don’t forget: many universities have their own specialists on this.




I studied previously: how does this affect my funding? This is a complex issue: it’s best to contact your own individual university for support with this.

Is becoming a student the right choice for me right now? It is useful to discuss this after a conversation about general budgeting (see point 3 above). There are many alternative options after university and clients should be at least made aware of things like apprenticeships, gap years, and alternative qualifications. A good guide can be found here.

In addition, students in England should look at the guidance available from the careers service.

Students in Wales should look at the guidance available from Careers Wales.




Student Finance in England, Wales and other regions There are four types of financial help you can get as a student in higher education. This help does depend on several factors, such as where you live, the course you are on, and individual circumstances. These are split into two types, and each of these is then split into two types each. It’s important to understand the difference between each of them.

Repayable loans

Tuition fee loans are intended to cover up to the full cost of tuition fees

Maintenance loans are intended to help with living expenses such as rent or food

Non-repayable grants

General grants are intended to cover living costs such as food or rent

Bursaries can be provided by the college or university

In Wales, separate tuition fee grants are available: your university will be able to tell you more.

If you’re not sure how they work and what the differences are, there is a section of detailed information and signposts starting on p23




Important – You don’t have a choice of which student finance organisation you go with: you have to go with the one that applies to where you live.

The Student Loan company

The Student Loan Company can be found here.

Top tip - there is a great overview of student finance available from the .gov.uk website here.

SFE is here Student Finance England does not have a site per se: this ‘hub’ provides links to their presence on the .gov.uk website, The Student Room, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.

SFW is here Student Finance Wales offers information on financial support available to higher education students in Wales.




SFNI is here Student Finance Northern Ireland offers information on financial support available to higher education students in Northern Ireland.

SAAS is here The Student Awards Agency Scotland give financial support to eligible students doing a course of higher education in the UK. They receive applications from undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as applications for Disabled Student Allowance, the NHS Bursary Scheme and the Part-time Fee Grant.




The Student Finance Notification form The first thing an adviser needs when advising a client is information. Information on their situation, their problem and most of all, their finances. Experienced advisers will be used to helping clients complete spending diaries or fill in budgets on tools like the Single Financial Statement. However, it is important to note that students will all have access to their Student Finance Notification form. This is something they can access from the online portal at their university, and it will break down their maintenance loan in clear simple terms. This is incredibly useful for getting an overall picture of what their student finance situation is. The online portal generally looks like this, but will vary from university to university.

Further information on it can be found on the website for the students own university.




Loans – Tuition fee loans These are provided by the Student Loans Company but administered by Student Finance. The Student Loans Company isn’t part of the government: it is a separate loans company that helps students across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with their student loans. Applications normally open in late February for the academic year starting that September. Tuition fees for higher education vary, but student loans can sometimes cover the entire fee. Note – students in Wales may be able to qualify for a large proportion of this to be paid by a Welsh Government grant. Look here for more details. Most people – but not everyone - on an eligible course qualifies for a tuition fee loan no matter what their earnings are, as it is not income assessed. If a student has studies previously, this can still affect their loan entitlement. Remember: these are paid straight to the university or college by the Students Loan Company. You won’t actually see this money in your account at all. Loans – Maintenance loans These – like the previous loans – are ones that need to be paid back. However, they are treated slightly differently than tuition fee loans. Although they are provided by the Student Loan Company, these loans will actually go into your bank account. The maximum loan you can take out for maintenance varies, and most of it is ‘means-tested’, which means it is based on how much money your parents or partner earns and whether you will be living with them whilst you study. This total amount varies depending on whether you’re studying in London or elsewhere, or living with your parents. This means that there are varying maximums for what you can get, and these can be found here for England and here for Wales.




Again, although you do have to pay back this loan, it is treated in the same unusual way as tuition fee loans: you only pay it back when you’re earning over £21,000. If you work overseas after graduating, then you still need to make repayments. You can do this by accessing this part of the Student Loan website. Good and bad – The way the student loan company is structured means two very important things: as it is a cost that is deducted from your payslip, you can never miss a payment that you are supposed to make. That means: o

It cannot affect your credit rating

o

Bailiffs and debt collectors will never chase you for this debt

Top tip – Please note that payment thresholds changed in 2012, and are different for students that took loans out before then. In addition, loans taken out before 1998 are actually subject to slightly different debt collection rules. Don’t panic though! Although this sounds complicated, the student loan repayment website calculator will point these out to you!




Repayments and how they work

These loans used to grow at an interest-rate which was the same as inflation (this rate is often called the RPI): this means that the debt should increase at the same rate as wages in the UK. However since 2012 things have become much more complicated. The loan now increases at the same rate as RPI, but with an extra interest rate on top of up to 3% over the RPI. This is where things get complicated, as the 3% extra is applied on a sliding scale depending on a number of factors between £21,000 and £40,000. The best guide for this on the student loan company website here. The repayment of loans is repaid through the tax system, and only begins after you leave higher education and are earning over £21,000 per year. Remember, this £21,000 figure is gross so it means that’s what you earn before tax. Don’t worry: it’s based on what you earn, not on how much you’ve borrowed.

Things to remember The exact amounts and rate of repayment can vary based on several factors; to get an indicative set of figures, we recommend using the very simple and clear calculator on the student loan repayment website.

Alternatively, there is a great student loan calculator here on the Money Saving Expert website.




For those students in Wales, there is always the possibility that you may be able to get a partial cancellation of your loan from Welsh Government. This is a unique and little-know feature: more information can be found here.

You also have the option to make a big lump sum payment off the loan if you want, and in certain circumstances it is possible to take a limited ‘repayment holiday’ too. These can be really useful, but be sure to take financial advice before making any decision on either of these options, as they are not necessarily the best thing to do for everyone. There is useful information about this on the Money Saving Expert website here.




General grants The most important thing to remember about grants is that they are not repayable. You will never be asked to repay them, and they have no impact on things like your credit rating. However, as you will have to go through an application process to get a grant, you are responsible for any terms and conditions tied into any grant you get: for example, some grants may rely on you finishing your course. There is a good overview here on the .gov.uk website, and further information here for Wales.

The Maintenance grant This comes from the Student Loan Company, and if you get it you will receive it in your account with your maintenance loan. It is assessed using your household income and personal circumstances, but you can potentially get up to £3,387 as a non-repayable grant. Update – This only applies to existing students and new students in Wales: if you are in England and started studying in this academic year (2016-17), this grant is no longer available. Remember – There is a balance between your maintenance loan and your maintenance grant. The relationship between them is complicated, but essentially, the more you get of one, the less you get of the other.

Maintenance Loan – as one goes up, the other goes down!

Maintenance Grant – as one goes up, the other goes down!

Student Finance




The Special Support Element of the loan (previously the Special Support grant) This is a grant that is separate to the Maintenance grant, but is up to the same amount and – if taken out – replaces the Maintenance grant. It’s for people with underlying entitlement to benefits: if you are on benefits such as PIP, then you may qualify for the Special support element (in England) or a Special Support Grant (in Wales)

Disabled students allowance These are intended to help with the costs you might have as a direct result of having a disability. The money is not paid to the student directly, but rather it pays for a support package.

Childcare grant This is intended to help with childcare costs for students with children under the age of 15. They can cover up to 85% of the total cost of the childcare costs.

Parents Learning Allowance This can be taken independently to the childcare grant: it is intended to help with course-related costs if you have dependent children, and can be up to a maximum of £1,573.




Adult dependents grant This is intended to help students who have another adult who is dependent upon them for financial support. It can be up to a maximum of £2,757.

University bursaries and scholarships Bursaries and scholarships are provided by the actual higher education institution: this can be the university or college. These are generally awarded after an application process, and are intended to support students who display exceptional merit (for scholarships) or those that lack the funds to support themselves through higher education without assistance (bursaries). Your individual university will have more information on this.

External bursaries and scholarships The Turn2Us website has an online tool that search for grant across the country, and can be found here.




NHS funding Although NHS students are not intended to be supported by this toolkit, further information on their funding can be found here for England, and here for Wales.

Social work bursaries can also be found here

International students Further information on supporting them can be found at the UKCISA website

Hardship funds and Part-time work Contact your university directly for support on these issues.




What clients need in order to apply for Student Finance To complete their application, clients will need: o

Their passport (or at least their passport number)

o

Their university course details

o

Their bank details

o

Their national insurance number

Often, their passport number is enough to prove your ID, as this can be checked centrally. Remember - The Student Loan Company may need to contact their parents or partner to confirm their earnings: this is essential for the means-tested part of the funding package. Regional differences

SFE is here

SFW is here

What about students who are estranged from their family? Further support for vulnerable students, such as those who are estranged from family, can be found in a separate section of this toolkit on page 58. ESSENTIAL – Once this is all completed, the student will get a ‘declaration form’ either sent to them online or in the post. It is crucial that they sign this and post it back: many students forget to do this, and therefore their money is delayed! Also remember that if they change their course of their university they can amend this online, or contact Student Finance directly, or speak to their university. ©2016 Citizens Advice



‘More than 70% of students under the current student loan system will never pay their loan back in full’ The Institute for Fiscal Studies




Engaging with students - for HE advisers The resources in this toolkit provide basic general information and guidance about student finance. The majority of student advisors at colleges and universities will already know the majority of this information, but may still find the factsheets of use when talking to students.

Most importantly, this toolkit has the aim of encouraging partnership work between higher education institutions and local Citizens Advice offices. By referring appropriately to Citizens Advice for support, this should allow student advisers to concentrate on their own areas of expertise.

Wider resources All the topics covered in this toolkit are those financial capability topics unique to students in higher education. However, there is a huge volume of topics and areas that students will benefit from, and that are the same irrespective of whether they are in higher education or not. These can be found in our full suite of financial capability resources, available freely online here.




I’m a student adviser: what do Citizens Advice do? Citizens Advice provides free, confidential and independent advice to help people overcome their problems: we're here for everyone. In fact, we helped 2.7 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2016-17. There were also 43 million visits to our online advice pages. We help with everything from money issues to problems at work, housing to consumer rights. Often our clients have multiple linked problems, we aim to offer generalist advice for everything. We also give advice on consumer rights on our consumer helpline, support witnesses in courts through the Witness Service and give pension guidance to people aged over 50. We’re in 2,700 community locations (including GP surgeries, libraries and courts) in England and Wales. This is through our network of around 300 independent local charities across England and Wales. Our services are provided by 23,000 trained volunteers and 7000 paid staff. We can help on issues such as: o

Debt

o

Immigration

o

Family law and relationships

o

Benefits

o

Employment

o

Consumer rights

o

Housing

o

Healthcare

o

Legal support

o

Discrimination

o

Remember – If your student requires support on any of these issues, you can refer them to your local Citizens Advice office – which can be found here – for free, impartial and confidential advice.




Termly budgeting and family that will have some experience of budgeting. Naturally, many other students will have little experience of budgeting. However, when it comes to living as a student, pretty much everyone is in the same position: almost everyone has very little experience of how to budget as a student. This is because – when studying in higher education full-time – things are very different than the normal weekly or monthly budgeting process. So what’s so different? o

Students get their student funding in three separate payments throughout the year. We’re not talking about the tuition fee support – which go straight to the university – but the maintenance support, which can help with food and rent.

o

Students have times of their calendar where there are simply many more social events and living costs than at others. This cycle is unevenly spread out through the year, and although it’s predictable – sort of - it’s not really reflective of when they receive their loan payments.

o

Students will be paying several bills on a monthly basis, whilst others will be on a termly basis.

o

For many – but not all – students they will have much lower overheads to manage during vacation periods, as they will often return home for the summer, Christmas and Easter.

o

Rail/coach transport is an appreciable cost that is often essential, and can again come in irregular bursts.




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Many students will have some knowledge of basic budgeting, or will have friends

Have I done everything? - Quick reference list This is a quick checklist of the most essential things that a student needs to do to make sure that they get the student loan they are expecting, and that they get it when they expect to. Have you enrolled? Enrolling is really important: you have to do it yourself, and do it online with the higher education institution that you are going to study with. You will need to contact them directly, and provide the exact information they require. Without this, you will not be eligible for student funding. Have you signed and returned the declaration form? This is probably the most important single thing that a student needs to do, mainly because it is the easiest one to overlook. Once they have enrolled, the student will get a ‘declaration form’ posted to them by the university. It is crucial that they sign this and post it back: if you forget to do this, you won’t get your money! Are you missing evidence? Student Finance England and Student Finance Wales both have a clear list of what evidence they need in order to approve finance: check this on their website and make absolutely certain that you have enclosed everything that you need to. Do you have enough money to act as a buffer for at least two weeks? It takes at least two weeks for you to receive your first instalment of funding: do you have enough money to pay for bills and your food during this time?

A handy guide can be found on the Which? site here.




We’ve developed this list of tips and guidance by asking practitioners – both from Citizens Advice and various universities – for their own tips when supporting students with budgeting. If you have tips of your own, please let us know!

Fill in a students budget using two months of their actual bank statements. This helps for several reasons: people tend to underestimate how much money they might withdraw as cash, or spend on certain luxuries. Not only this, using two months of bank statements means that any irregular costs (like birthdays, for example) get smoothed out on average (in fact, using three months of statements is even better!)

Use online budgeting tools and calculators: Citizens Advice have a free online budgeting tool here, and there is one on the Money Advice Service website too.

Go through your bank statements and think through any regular payments that go out. So you really need that gym membership or Netflix subscription? You may even find regular subscriptions that go out that you forgot all about and don’t need at all.

Keep a spending diary: Citizens Advice has some different ones available here, but even just using a notebook is better than nothing.




AIC 20 –B D R

Tips to help a student work out their budget

Why not try a budgeting app: there is a list of over a dozen recommended apps on the next page.

If you’re trying to stop spending money on unessential items, why not try the Money Saving Expert demotivator?

Make sure you open all your mail: this can be a boring task, and even a little stressful, so try to make it a habit that you do at a regular time (like Sunday evenings, for example).

If you’re regularly using trains to travel back home, or to see friends and family in general, apply for a Student Railcard here. Any students between 16-25 can apply for this, and it only costs £30 whilst still saving you 1/3 of all train journey across Great Britain for a whole year.

Check your bank balance every single time before you take any cash out: even better, get a printed receipt so you can keep an even closer track of your money.

Did you know that you can make massive savings on train tickets by splitting your journey into two separate journeys instead of one single one? Split train tickets by using this site here.




Don’t take your bank card out on a night out with friends: give yourself a fixed amount of cash, and stick to it.

And finally - 60 tips from Martin Lewis to stretch your student loan can be found here.




Tracking and keeping up to date on your spending is really important. In fact, it’s probably the most important thing to do when it comes to your finances as a student. The easiest way to do this is simply to write down everything that you spend as soon as you can: this is called a spending diary. There are quite a few spending diaries available: the ones on our site can be found here. There are also some really useful budgeting apps we recommend.

Wally is on iOS only. It’s very popular, and lets you build custom budgeting categories whilst also setting daily reminders to update fixed and variable spending. You can also just take photos of your receipts - the app reads them and uploads them, and it also uses the phone GPS to work out where you shop.

Spendee is on iOS and Android. It’s extremely simple; it just records income and expenditure and you can’t really customise anything.

Toshl Finance is on iOS and Android. It’s an average, solid budgeting app. It has quirky graphics some may like, but does need you to start a free Toshl.com account to get rolling. IT also has separate versions available for use on tablets.

Money Dashboard is on both Android and iOS. It’s a readonly service, so you can’t spend or move your money though the app: it’s more of a monitoring thing. However, you can set your own financial goals, and it uses past spending patterns to predict your future outgoings.




AIC 20 – A B D R

Tracking spending and budgeting apps

Splitify is a free mobile app for financial management, available on iOS and Android. As well as helping to manage expenses and money on a daily basis, it also tells you exactly who owes how much to whom in a family, among friends, roommates, colleagues or a group in an activity. It’s incredibly useful when managing shared bills!

The Chip app uses your spending habits to work out what you can afford to save without affecting your normal spending habits, siphoning off the money to a separate Chip account. You can sign up using the app which is available to both Android and iOS users for free. It is compatible with bank accounts with NatWest, Halifax, Lloyds, Nationwide, Barclays, HSBC, First Direct, Santander, TSB, RBS, Metro Bank and Cooperative Bank.

The Savings Goal app is the only one on this list which isn’t actually free: instead it’s £2.99 from the Apple store (so on iOS only). The app helps you build up cash for major life milestones by asking you to enter a target amount and a deadline by which you want to save. The app will then calculate a savings schedule - how much you need to save each month or week - and tracks your progress.

YNAB stands for You Need a Budget. In YNAB, every penny you earn needs a job, so you assign it to either be spent or saved. YNAB connects directly to your financial accounts to pull in account balances and other information in real time. It also provides a lot of educational material, both tutorial and philosophical in nature. On the other hand, it can take quite a bit of time to learn to use, and it costs $5 per month to use. Note – It’s an American app, but works fine over in the UK. It does use a lot of American jargon though, and the monthly cost varies with the exchange rate!




PocketGuard works on iPhone, Android and even on Apple Watches. It connects directly to your bank accounts so that you can always have access to your current transactions and balance. Simple charts outline where you spend your money, and a tap shows what you are spending in each category.

GoodBudget is available on iPhone and Android as a free app, but there are more complicated versions that you would have to pay for: there is no need for that though. GoodBudget is a digital envelope budget system that helps you manage your finances using the envelope budgeting method without carrying around a stack of envelopes when you need to make payments. It's an envelope budget for the digital age. It also syncs you budgets across all of your devices too.

Mvelopes is available on iPhone and Android, but also has specific apps for tablets as well as smartphones. It is free, but there are more complex versions you can pay for. You can link your bank account to this app to make it work and it is another digital envelope budget method app that can help you stay on track.

Level Money is free on iPhone and Android. It helps you stick to a budget by showing you what you can spend today, this week and this month. It also helps you figure out how to save for bigger purchases or pay down debt and can connect this to most major banks.

BUDGT is an iPhone only app that costs £1.99. It allows you to quickly enter your income and your recurring expense for an overview of your budget and then start tracking your daily expenses in easy to manage categories to quickly see how much money you have left and how much money you can spend.




Unsplurge is an iPhone only app that is slightly unusual: it is all about saving up for a specific splurge. This can make it more fun to use, especially when you save up to a goal like a vacation, a new iPhone or any other major purchase.

Digitbot is a free iPhone and Android app, and works by saving money that it’s user doesn't need. All you need to do is connect your bank account to Digitbot and the app will monitor your spending to figure out when and how much it can transfer into a savings account.

Don’t forget – We have our own Citizens Advice apps, developed by local offices across England and Wales! There are already five of these, and more being added all the time. As well as being hosted by their local offices on their own individual websites, there is also an index of them all here on our main website.

Warning – Mint is on iOS and Android, and is the world’s most popular budgeting app. However, UK banks prohibit its use, so it can’t be recommended to clients. As an interesting point, Mint has bought and taken over the apps that used to be called PageOnce and Check.




Make a list of everything you spend money on in an average month. That includes the normal big bills, but also things like food and travel.

If you have the time, it always helps to keep a spending diary for a few weeks before you budget, just so you can see exactly how much you really spend on things like food, drink and travel. It’s really easy to underestimate them!

Make sure amounts are realistic. There’s no better way to do this than to look at your bills for the last few months. Remember your heating bill is normally more in the winter months than the summer!

Decide if you want to do things weekly or monthly. Once you’ve decided, then convert everything to that and don’t mix them up!

Make a rough copy first, so you can make mistakes.

Make your first draft budget; it should list all the money going out and all the money coming in.

Include an amount for emergencies and things like Christmas and birthdays.

Once you’ve done your budget, it’s worth adjusting the figures to see where you can save. For example, if you find you spend £10 a week more than you earn, you might need to look at some of your outgoings to make that balance.

It’s a good tip to make sure you have a small surplus in the budget, even if it’s only £20. This covers unexpected expenses, which always seem to crop up!

It is worth re-doing a budget when things change – a job, moving house, leaving or moving in with a partner or taking out a loan.




Factsheet

AIC 20 - B

Budget-building guide

Council tax however, although that’s true, the situation can be much more complicated. This is not an issue face if you live in student halls, as student halls of residence are automatically exempt from council tax. Students normally don’t have to pay council tax – there is very clear and helpful guidance here, which applies for both England and Wales. So where is the problem? The problems arise when students are renting shared accommodation in the student letting, or private, sector. Council tax is what is called a joint and several liability, which means that if a specific person in the property can be chased for a council tax bill they haven’t paid, then anyone in property can actually be pursued for the bill. What this means is that if five people live in a property, and only four of them are students, then that fifth person is liable for the council tax for the whole property. However, if that person doesn’t pay, then the council can also hold the four students liable for the costs. How to deal with this? The first thing to do is to make sure the problem doesn’t happen in the first place. When you move into a rented property for the first time, the first thing to do is to get a certificate of exemption. You can get this from the Registrar of your university or college. You can also contact the accommodation office, or get it online. Then you will need to send it to your local council: details will be on their website.




AIC 20 – D

Most full-time students know that they don’t have to pay council tax:

Shared tenancies vs Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO’s) The above only applies to shared tenancies. This is when you are all on the same tenancy agreement together. If this is the case, then it is your responsibility to make sure that the council know that you’re students, by providing them the certificate of exemption. However, if you live in a HMO then you do not have to do this. The landlord is liable for the council tax and will ask you for the certificate of exemption. Working out if you’re in a HMO is not straightforward, mainly because the rules are complicated and keep changing. However, the best way to work it out is this: o

Does each tenant in the property have their own individual tenancy agreement relating to their own individual room?

o

If one person wants to move out and someone else moves in, do you keep your tenancy agreement and the new tenant just gets their own one?

If the answers to these questions are ‘yes’, then you’re probably in a HMO. Things to remember If there is only one person living in the property who isn’t a student – and therefore they are liable for council tax – although they have to pay the council tax that applies to the entire property, they can get a 25% discount. To get this, they need to contact their local council: details will be on their website. You count as a student for the whole of your time in study. This includes holidays, so you aren’t liable for council tax over the summer between academic years. This only applies as long as you’re not changing courses in this period: if you finish one course in May, and start a new one in September, you don’t count as a student for the intervening months.




Shared Bills and named accounts when you’re studying at university or college. TV License A TV license costs £147. However, the tricky thing to remember is that every individual separate dwelling is liable for a TV license. The best way to work out whether you need to pay a license – whether you live in halls of residence or just rent a room in a shared house, is by answering the following questions: o

Is there a TV in your room?

o

When you leave your room, can you lock the door with a key?

If the answer to both these questions is ‘Yes’ then you probably need to pay for a TV license. To be sure, check the TV Licensing website here. General rules o

You may not have a TV, but watching (or recording) any BBC broadcasts on a laptop, games console or tablet also means you’re liable to pay a TV license. This also applies to using iPlayer in any way.

o

You may have a TV, but only use it for games consoles, or as a computer screen. This is fine, but you will need to notify TV licensing of this via their website.

o

Your parents TV license is very unlikely to cover you.

o

If you move accommodation, it’s easy to tell TV licensing and transfer your license over.

o

It’s possible to get a partial refund if you’re only in student accommodation for part of the year.

o

Don’t forget that you can claim your TV license back for the summer months if you are staying in university halls.

For more details, go here: the rules are complicated and there are lots of exceptions.

Gas, water and electricity These are all utilities, and so we’re treating them all as having similar strengths and weaknesses. There are lots of resources on the Citizens Advice website to




AIC 20 – D

As well as council tax, there are some other really important bills to keep in mind

cover energy and water when you live alone or with your family, but living with other students does mean there are a few other things to keep in mind. The #1 rule Keep communicating with your housemates. There is nothing worse than developing an awkward or tense atmosphere with your housemates, but it does unfortunately happen. You need to make sure you keep having clear and honest conversations with your housemates: when bills are involved, the problems that can arise if you don’t all pay on time can be pretty serious. The following tips are offered as guidance: Each housemate should take one bill (we’ll use gas as an example). First things first: get everyone’s name on that bill, so that everyone knows they are responsible if it isn’t paid: this would also affect everyone’s credit rating. Now that person takes responsibility for that bill: that means speaking to the provider, dealing with paperwork, and organising payment. Let’s say that bill is £40 for a month, and there are 4 housemates living together: all you then need to do is get £10 from each of the housemates at the start of the month. Top tip One thing to be careful here: sometimes students fall into the trap of ‘swapping costs’: basically, this is when student A asks Student B for £10 for the gas bill, but then also realises that Student B will owe them £10 for water (for example). It’s tempting for Student A to just say ‘well, I owe you £10 and you owe me £10, so let’s call it even’. This can get really, really complicated; we recommend not doing this, and keeping any money you collect for a bill separately in a safe place in your room. In our apps section, there are options such as ‘Splitify’ that can help manage in these situations.




AIC 20 –B D R

Getting help – the Glide website

For those students that are still finding controlling their monthly budgeting difficult, and the added complication of shared bills only makes this worse, there is the option of assisted budgeting services such as Glide. The Glide website can be found at www.glide.co.uk, and offers free quotes and a free trial. Over 50,000 people are already Glide users, and the service offers apps that can be downloaded from both the Apple app store and the Google Play store. Glide simplifies bill payments for every tenant within a house by combining all their monthly bills into an equal split single bill for everyone. Not only that, Glide also manages any installation and disconnection arrangements, as well as shopping around for best deals and switching on the students behalf.

Citizens Advice are not affiliated to Glide in any way, and other budgeting services are available: however, detailed consultation with student money advisers and student support practitioners for this toolkit repeatedly indicated that Glide was the specific option that many specialists preferred to raise awareness of.




Other general tips money in for bills. We generally don’t recommend this: you need to really trust one another for this to work, and if you are changing accommodation or housemates frequently, it can get very complicated very quickly. The simplest thing to do is get a rent that includes all the bills already: these aren’t very common, but is well worth looking for you when you are looking for somewhere to live. Always find out where your utility meters are and take readings regularly. This is true for gas/electricity and water: often bills get estimated by providers, or sometimes they even start with the wrong figures. This means you can be overcharged regularly without even realising it. It can be tempting to let one person to take control of all the bills. Everyone knows one person who likes to be in control and seems to know what they’re doing: however, try to avoid the temptation of letting someone take care of all the household’s bills. Not only does this stop you from learning how to handle bills for when you live independently, it is also a risky strategy in case they turn out to be unreliable. Be careful when it comes to cancellation costs; a lot of students only need to pay for their account for 9 months, but will get tied into 12 month contracts unnecessarily. Make sure you work out what you need before signing up, and shop around to find a contract that suits you. Always make sure you take readings from the gas and electricity meters when you move into the property, and on the day you leave. In fact, take photos if you can and email them to yourselves to keep a safe copy. This way, you have evidence of what the readings were if you need to dispute them and you can make sure you don’t get charged for energy you don’t use. Contents insurance: it might seem like something you don’t really need, and an expense you can do without, but student properties are often targeted by thieves more than normal residential homes. It really is worth considering what sort of cover you should take out.




AIC 20 –B D

Some students choose to get a shared account that each housemate can put

When you initially rent a property, it’s a good idea to take photos of it thoroughly, both internally and externally. This can be really helpful when you move out, in case you need to dispute with the landlord whether or not some damage was there when you moved in, or whether it was caused by the tenants. There are really useful further – and very detailed – tips about on the Shelter website. Information for England can be found here

Information for Wales can be found here.




Deposit Protection Scheme

The DPS can be found online here and should look something like this. Once there, you can log-in: no matter who the scheme is with, you’ll need your deposit ID and repayment ID to hand.

The .gov.uk has a handy overview of all the deposit protection schemes in the UK here.




AIC 20 – W

Remember that every landlord has to place a deposit into a protection scheme such as Deposit Protection Scheme (DPS), and can’t simply be a cash-in-hand unregulated sum. This is to protect you. Remember that several schemes exist: DPS is only the largest.

Student overdrafts basic banking facilities are available on the Citizens Advice website here. Student overdrafts are interest-free and so can be very useful, but they also come with risks. Pros – o

They are already with your current bank, so there’s less paperwork.

o

Interest rates are low: generally much lower than either credit cards or personal loans.

o

You can often get interest free-ones: always shop around!

o

They are often available automatically without needing to fill in paperwork.

o

You often get freebies with a student bank account, like a discounted railcard for example.

Cons – o

Going over your overdraft limit is a very risky business; the sudden charges and extra interest applied to your borrowing can be extremely high, with penalty charges on top of any increased interest as well.

o

It’s tempting to take out multiple overdrafts by having multiple accounts: this is a slippery slope to a spiral of debt that is very difficult to get out of. Not only that, it is actually against the terms and conditions of having any student bank account, meaning it could lead to all your overdrafts being stopped at the same time and sudden debts to have to repay!




AIC 20 – A

Overdrafts have a bit of a mixed reputation. More information on overdrafts and

Although students should not be discouraged to use their overdraft – in fact often it’s the least risky type of borrowing available to them, it’s really important they are aware of the possible risks such as: o

Some banks charge £5 for every single day an overdraft limit is exceeded.

o

Not all banks offer overdrafts to students automatically; you need to arrange it before spending money you don’t have, or you can be charged up to £6 for each transaction.

o

You don’t always get your maximum overdraft straight away: some banks only increase the overdraft limit after each year of completed study.

o

Some overdrafts need you to pay in a certain annual amount, or else they will suddenly be able to charge you interest on the whole amount.

So it’s really important to check all the terms and conditions of any overdraft that you take out. There is a great guide to them by Martin Lewis here.




Students and mobile phones This makes sense for two reasons: o

Most of a student’s social experience of higher education revolve around social media in one form or another.

o

Many courses require students to access online portals, apps or platforms on a regular basis that is often easiest through a mobile device.

As such, there is a specific toolkit for helping clients manage their mobile phones here on the Citizens Advice website. This toolkit covers the following topics:

Activities

Taking out a contract

1 – Understanding technical language 2 – Understanding contracts

Having a contract

3 – Understanding billing 4 – Upgrading contracts

Sorting out problems with a contract

5 – Consumer rights 6 – Mobile phone debts

Activity Six – a guide for handling mobile debts – is included overleaf.




AIC 20 – see toolkit

For many students, mobile phones aren’t a luxury: they are an essential item.

Is the debt correct? - Check your contract carefully, and see what your allowances are. It doesn’t happen often, but mobile phone companies can make mistakes about people’s bills, especially when it comes to overseas charges or internet use.

Can you change your tariff? - Is your current tariff right for you? Shopping around and changing tariff could save you money.

Draw up a budget - Making your own budget is an important step before getting any advice, as the adviser can use this information to start to work out whether you can make any small payments towards the debt. This is very important when contacting the company.

What are my alternatives to mobile phone contracts? - There are such things as SIMonly or PAYG contracts. Contact your provider and consider moving over to them.

Can you cancel the contract and stop the debt increasing? - You can contact your mobile provider and cancel the contract, but it is normal for the cancellation fee to be the full line rental cost of the contract until it ends. It’s still worth looking into, as some companies may be willing to freeze your contract for a few months.

Where can I get money from? - It’s a radical step, but you could consider downgrading your phone. A cheap handset can be as little as £10, and this then gives you the option of selling your smartphone. These can go for several hundred pounds, depending on the model.

Contact the mobile phone company - Ask them if you can pay in smaller instalments: a Citizens Advice adviser should be able to help with this. They are more likely to agree to a monthly payment plan if you communicate with them honestly and make at least some offer of payment. Remember – you should always try to get free debt advice from your local Citizens Advice: we’re impartial and confidential, and help clients with debt problems every day. ©2016 Citizens Advice



Factsheet

Dealing with mobile phone debt

High cost lenders and addictions cost lenders. It can be found here, and provides information and support on: o

Doorstep lenders

o

Pawnbrokers

o

Selling gold

o

Buying as you view

o

Loan sharks

o

Payday Loans

Support for clients with gambling problems can be found at Gamble Aware and also at GamCare.org.

Support for clients suffering addiction to video games may find support here. Work in this area is not as well understood and provisioned as other addictions.

The charity Addaction offers general support for clients dealing with addiction, including drugs and alcohol.




AIC 20 – see toolkit

Citizens Advice provides a toolkit specifically to help clients at risk of using high-

What support is available for vulnerable students? Students in vulnerable situations – those who are estranged, or those leaving care – may be able to find useful support and guidance from one of the following. Remember – always check with the individual university to see what support they offer themselves o

www.standalone.org.uk

Stand Alone offers support services to prevent estranged adults becoming vulnerable. They talk openly about the experience of family estrangement to help others lead lives that are less isolated.

o

www.propel.org.uk

Propel aims to address the low proportion of care-leavers that go on to university by age 19 (6% compared to a UK average of 38%) by offering information and support.

o

www.becomecharity.org.uk/

The Become charity provide help, support and advice to children in care and young care leavers so that they can take control of their lives, including exploring their options of higher education.

The UCAS website has a section on supporting care leavers applying for higher education. If provides up-to-date information on eligibility and entitlements.




o

www.nnecl.org/

The National Network for the Education of Care Leavers provides information and support for care leavers, children in care and those who support them.




Signposts and further help Citizens Advice has taken care to ensure any information in this toolkit is accurate. However, student finance issues can be complicated, and rules change frequently. These changes are not always reflected immediately in this toolkit, and there are often many exemptions or exceptions to most rules as well. You should contact the student support services in your university or college if you’re at all uncertain how to use this information or need more detailed help. Useful information can be found here:


Citizens Advice student guidance

resources can be found here.

can be found here.

Money Advice service student-

The government webpage for

specific guidance can be found

Student Finance England can be

here.

found here.




The webpage for Student Finance Wales

The Money Saving Expert has a great

can be found here

student section here

The Student Loans Company

The Student Loans Company

site is here.

repayment site is here.




Evaluation Guidance Areas that underpin client financial capability These are the Citizens Advice Financial Capability Areas that were carefully researched and developed by The Impact Team at Citizens Advice to help local offices measure client financial capability robustly and consistently across services. They were developed in line with the MAS UK Financial Capability Strategy Adult Outcomes Framework. Sample questions and scales can be found overleaf. An Impact Tool is available in Petra for recording responses and progress.

Keeping track of money

Controlled spending

◉Keep track of money going out, money coming in and calculate what's left over. ◉Check my current balance and keep my papers in order.

◉Spend or save only what I can afford after covering the basics I need to live, like food, housing and electricity.

Having enough money to live

Planning ahead with money

◉Have enough money to cover the basics I need to live like food, housing and electricity.

Looking for the best deals

◉Know when my bills and payments are due and keep on top of priority bills, like for electricity, loans and council tax. ◉Put some money aside for big or unexpected costs.

Staying informed about money services

◉Look at different options and buying the best deal for things like food, clothes, large items or services like phone, electricity or insurance. ◉Get different opinions on what I am buying, like from reviews and comparison websites.

◉Read the main information about money services I get like banking, benefits and loans. ◉Stay on top of changes to these or get help when I don’t understand.

Mindset ◉Confidence about taking action on my money matters. Copyright © 2015 Citizens Advice All rights reserved. Any reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited except with the express written permission of Citizens Advice. Please note these areas, questions and scales are owned by Citizens Advice and subject to copyright restrictions so reproduction must include the relevant copyright statement above and no changes to its wording, response categories or layout must be made. For further information please contact Satdeep Grewal on [email protected] or 03000 231 608.

Sample questions and scales for measuring client financial capability These questions can be used to ascertain how good someone’s financial capability is and so, what their level of need is. They also allow you to track progress by being used to follow-up with how someone is getting on after you have helped them. Score 1 to 3

Score 4

Score 5 to 7

Low financial capability

Average financial capability

Advanced financial capability

High need

Medium need

Low need

Keeping track of money ◉ Calculate money going out, money coming in and what's left over. ◉ Check my current balance and keep my papers in order. Rate your knowledge about the above How often do you do the above?

No knowledge

1 Never

1

No to some Some knowledge knowledge

2

Some to good knowledge

Good knowledge

Good to excellent knowledge

Excellent knowledge

Don’t know

4

5

6

7

▢

3

Never to Sometimes Sometimes sometimes to often

2

3

4

Often

Often to Very often very often

5

6

Don’t know

7

▢

Staying informed about money services ◉ Read the main information about money services I get like banking, benefits and loans. ◉ Stay on top of changes to these or get help when I don’t understand. Rate your knowledge about the above: How often do you do the above?

No No to some Some knowledge knowledge knowledge

1

2

3

Never

Never to sometimes

1

2

Some to good knowledge

Good knowledge

Good to excellent knowledge

Excellent knowledge

Don’t know

4

5

6

7

▢

Often

Often to very often

Very often

Don’t know

5

6

7

▢

Sometimes Sometimes to often

3

4

Mindset How much confidence do you have about taking action on your money matters? No confidence

No to some confidence

Some confidence

Some to good confidence

Good confidence

Good to high confidence

High confidence

Don’t know

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

▢

Copyright © 2015 Citizens Advice All rights reserved. Any reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited except with the express written permission of Citizens Advice. Please note these areas, questions and scales are owned by Citizens Advice and subject to copyright restrictions so reproduction must include the relevant copyright statement above and no changes to its wording, response categories or layout must be made. For further information please contact Satdeep Grewal on [email protected] or 03000 231 608.

Appendix One - Where to go for support on students experiencing domestic violence or abuse? The following organisations are dedicated to helping those experiencing all forms of gender-based violence and abuse. The opening hours are only approximate and subject to change: please check respective websites.

General The National Domestic Violence helpline - 0808 2000 247 This is a free, 24-hour number run by Womens Aid and Refuge Live Free From Fear - 0808 8010 800 The domestic abuse and sexual violence helpline for people living in Wales – supported by Welsh Women’s aid - is open 24 hours. The Men's Helpline - 0808 801 0327 Providing help and support for male victims of domestic violence. Available Mon-Fri 9-5pm Mankind – 01823 334 244 Confidential helpline for male victims of domestic violence and abuse, available MonFri 10-4pm Respect - 0808 802 4040 If you or someone you know is being abusive or violent to a partner or family member, support is available on this number 9-5 Mon-Fri The National Stalking Helpline - 0808 802 0300 Offering support to those feeling harassed or intimidated by another person’s behaviour. Run by the Suzy Lamplugh trust, available 9:30-4pm Mon-Fri National LGBT Domestic Abuse helpline - 0800 999 5428 Emotional and practical support for LGBT people experiencing domestic abuse, open 10-5pm Sun-Fri Dyn Cymru – 0808 801 0321 Free, confidential support to men who are experiencing domestic abuse from a partner, available Mon-Wed 10-4pm.




Broken Rainbow – 0800 999 5428 Dedicated to confronting and eliminating domestic violence and abuse within LGBT communities BAWSO – 0800 731 8147 An all Wales service providing support to people from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds who are affected by domestic violence and abuse. Helpline is open 24 hours a day. Rape Crisis - 0808 802 9999 Support, counselling and information for women who have suffered sexual violence. Various opening hours. National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) - 0808 801 0331 Providing services to support adult survivors of childhood abuse. Available 10-9pm Mon-Thurs, and 10-6pm Fri. The NSPCC (child abuse for those still under 18) - 0808 800 5000 Available 24 hours Childline – 0800 1111 For people under the age of 18 that require support Supportline – 0808 1689 111 Delivered by Victim Support, this offers free help Mon-Fri (8pm-8am) and 24 hours on the weekend.

Wider forms of gender-based violence and abuse The FGM National Helpline - 0800 028 3550 Run by the NSPCC, and open 24 hours a day The Forced Marriage Unit - 0207 008 0151 Specialists on honour-based violence and forced marriage, available 9-5pm Mon-Fri Action on Elder abuse – 0808 808 8141 Protecting and supporting vulnerable older adults, available 9-5pm Mon-Fri




Useful Websites Legal information on the rights of women http://rightsofwomen.org.uk/ Including: o

Family law - 020 7251 6577

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Criminal law - 020 7251 8887

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For women in London - 020 7608 1137

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Immigration and asylum law - 020 7490 7689

The Womens Aid survivors handbook https://www.womensaid.org.uk/the-survivors-handbook/




Local contacts and details This is an area where we ask advisers and local offices to research and input their own local support bodies. Most third-sector organisations should have referral pathways to at least one of the following: o The local police

Insert specific details of local support here

o Local child protection services


o Local food banks


o Local specialist gender-based violence and abuse organisations



