Financial Wellbeing
- 44% of people are behind on a priority bill
- 32% often borrow to buy food or pay bills
- Almost 1 in 5 people living with a mental ill health conditions will have problem debt.
What is financial wellbeing?
“Feeling secure and in control of our finances, both now and in the future,”
- The Money and Pensions Services.
We’re aware that the current cost of living crisis and the impact is has on our finances can affect all aspects of wellbeing – mentally, physically and socially. From the food we eat, through to the stress of not meeting current or future financial demands.
Money can impact our wellbeing in four ways:
- Material – money buys goods and services that improve health
- Psychosocial – managing on a low income is stressful
- Behavioural – people on low incomes are more likely to adopt unhealthy behaviours (smoking, drinking, poor diet)
- Reverse causation – poor health can actually lead to low income
What can we do?
We all have to recognise and take responsibility for the areas that we can control to improve and manage our individual financial wellbeing – particularly if things don’t seem so great.
Even if we are unable to increase our income any further, there are still steps that we can all take to improve the negative impact money may be having on our lives.
Whilst perhaps not a miracle cure all, we can all look at ways to better manage any negative psychosocial and / or behavioural impact that our finances have on our lives - regardless of our current health or financial position. This may include things such as identifying coping strategies and stress reduction tools that work for us, improving our diets, or taking up physical exercise.
Money Helper Resources
If you have concerns about your own finances, meeting your costs day to day, paying off debts, or decisions about your pension, you can get free, independent information and guidance from the government backed Money Helper service. This includes:
TOOLS
GUIDANCE
Click here for more information
Line managers – how to support your teams
If you are a line manager, be aware that your staff may be struggling. There are things you can do to support your team members:
- Talk about this topic sensitively in catch ups and one-to-ones.
- Raise awareness among your team of the support available:
Salary Finance
Salary Finance provide a range of services, such as:
- Tips and guides on budgeting, saving and managing debt
- Take control of your household spending with a budget planner
- Check your credit score for free
- Find out how long or how much you need to save using the savings calculator
- Save - add money to a savings account directly from your salary
- Borrow - Loans, but different; Repaid through your salary, with higher acceptance and lower rates than most banks
- Salary Advance - Withdraw money from your salary as you earn it, without waiting for pay day
Find out more information at www.salaryfinance.com
However… Before considering borrowing or loaning money, we would urge all employees to refer to the guidance listed above to make sure that they are making the best decisions for their own individual situation.