Children and young people have what they need
This initiative provides support to key groups experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, hardship by strengthening Building Financial Capability (BFC) services. The BFC model is effective at improving the financial capability and resilience of vulnerable people, including Māori and Pacific people, as well as sole parents with children. A funding boost to financial capability service providers will help New Zealanders manage their money better both day to day and through periods of financial difficulty. A proportion of this went towards a general funding top up of around 20% so BFC providers can continue to support the 35,000 clients they see each year.
A significant increase in demand for budgeting services is expected in the economic downturn from the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, additional funding was rolled out to existing services. The extra funding was for:
- Financial Mentoring – one-to-one support empowering people to achieve their goals, including reducing debt and connecting to support they may need
- MoneyMates – peer-led support for people to learn and share together as a group
- Building Financial Capability Plus (Kahukura) service – intensive support for people who are hard to reach or with complex needs
- Micro-finance services – affordable credit to people at risk of unsustainable debt and hardship.