Voluntary sector

One Parent Families has established itself as the leading charity providing help, information and support to help lone parent families overcome the isolation and poverty that many face. One Parent families developed and piloted a financial literacy programme based on the needs of lone parents, within Greater Manchester in October 2005. In early 2006, extra funding was provided for a phase 2 of the project in order to further develop the training and to link it with existing Skills for Life provision in the area.

Having researched the issues affecting one parent families it was felt that the programme would be a mix and match modular programme making sure all the main areas of concern for lone parents were covered, as well as running an interactive project with an emphasis on active participation, as well as being informative, and in order not to alienate those with basic skills needs and no educational qualifications, the focus was on creating a course based around 'Basic' and 'Developing' levels of the Adult Financial Capability Framework. Modules were developed with the emphasis on income maximisation, managing money, credit and debt, and the tax and benefit system, with plenty of opportunities for parents to discuss experiences and share their own practical money saving ideas.

Phase 2 of the project was delivered solely within the city of Salford, allowing for greater focus and working more intensively with community organisations already connected to the target client group as well as making it easier to build stronger relationships and increase local impact.