‘Quids in’: social housing research project
Funded by Santander, the project was coordinated by Citizens Advice with research and evaluation activities led by the Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol.
This research project was set up to identify the benefits of financial capability training by comparing attitude and behaviour changes between two groups of tenants at the same Housing Association. One group received financial capability training whilst the control group did not.
The financial capability training was led by Bedworth, Rugby and Nuneaton Citizens Advice in partnership with Orbit Heart of England.
The research has significant potential to influence the take-up of financial capability interventions among social housing landlords.
Here is a short film in which tenants’ talk about their experience of participating in the training and what difference it has made to their lives.
Research findings
The research makes a strong case for social landlords to become involved in financial skills training and the lessons from the project can help local Citizens Advice work with Housing Associations to identify an approach that suits their needs and the needs of their tenants.
The results from this research demonstrated significant behaviour changes for the intervention group, for example:
- 78% had changed how they managed money since the training compared to 36% of the comparison.
- Tenant learners had six times higher odds of achieving financial benefits than the comparison group and on average were £10 a week better off.
- 20% of tenant learners had changed their saving behaviour almost twice as many as the comparison group.
A summary report of the research findings:
The full report and data tables:
Training resources
Further information
Please contact financial.skills@citizensadvice.org.uk