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MyBnk provides a range of financial education and enterprise workshops in schools and youth organisations that aim to build their financial capability. These programmes, delivered by expert trainers, are designed to help schoolchildren develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to support good financial decision-making later in life (these capabilities are referred to as ‘financial literacy’). ​

MyBnk’s work in primary and secondary schools is delivered through its three Money Twist programmes, each of which is designed for children in a specific age group: 

Money Twist KS2 – helping 7 to 11 year olds build the skills and habits that underpin financial literacy.
Money Twist KS3 – helping 11 to 14 year olds develop the practical skills and understanding to deal with common financial issues.​
Money Twist KS4 – helping 14 to 18 year olds develop the practical skills and understanding to deal with common financial issues.

The charity asked Pro Bono Economics to review its monitoring and evaluation procedures for the Money Twist programmes and provide advice on the feasibility of an economic evaluation. Pro Bono Economics matched volunteer economists Riccardo Zeccinelli, Christopher Bollington, Brian Caire and Nathan Warren from Ofwat to the project.  In the first phase of work the team carried out a detailed assessment of MyBnk’s framework for collecting and analysing data on the impact of participation in Money Twist on pupils’ financial literacy.

The second phase of work considered the feasibility of carrying out a cost benefit analysis for the Money Twist programmes. As set out in our report, the key challenge lies in linking improvements in financial literacy in childhood to improved adult outcomes. Although there is some existing evidence that directly links the type of non-cognitive skills targeted by MyBnk to improved adult outcomes, we concluded that it is not feasible to reliably link the likelihood of financial and non-financial outcomes to the outcome indicators monitored by MyBnk. The report suggests that MyBnk considers exploring the impact of Money Twist on academic attainment at Key Stage 3, as this would potentially offer a way of partially quantifying the benefit of the programme. 

Thanks to the volunteers from Ofwat for all their hard work on this report.

Pro Bono Economics was supported by City Bridge Trust, the funding arm of The City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates (1035628), to carry out this project.

2nd January 2019