Bank of England Sees Lifesavers in Action

Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England, is on a mission to listen and learn from local communities, and to help more people understand how the wider economy affects their personal finances. This led Andy to spend his day with pupils from the Josephine Butler Church of England Primary School, in Ashington. With the Year 5 and 6 pupils in charge of the LifeSavers savings club, Andy got to grips with the maths skills, customer service and team work needed to process the morning’s deposits.

Financial education lesson in the classroom

The task was to evaluate the benefits of different junior savings products. Bank of England sees LifeSavers in action explaining the Bank’s decision to maintain base rates at 0.5% the day before. ‘The Lifesavers programme is doing a fantastic job in providing financial education,’ he said, ‘and it is making maths fun to boot.’

Mr Haldane also talked with parents who have participated in money management workshops about their experiences of budgeting, saving, spending and debt. ‘This reinforced for me the crucial importance of financial literacy in supporting everyday decision making by families – where, and where not to shop, where, and where not and when to borrow, why and where it pays to save.’