Financial Wellbeing - Supporting your team
After the recent announcement by the Bank of England to raise the base interest rate up to 5%, many people, already struggling with rising living costs, are now facing increased mortgage payments and higher interest on credit card debt, bank loans and car loans. One in four employees say money worries affect their ability to do their job – and even those on the highest incomes are not immune.
It’s estimated that around 1.8 million people are seeking to remortgage in 2023 and will now have to pay a lot more than a year ago. This ‘mortgage bomb’ means that as people see their cheap fixed-rate deals come to end, the only options are to move to products with much higher rates and much higher monthly repayments. Combined with rising prices across the board, the financial burden on many people is becoming increasingly hard to bear.
As a business, you can support your employees by directing them to free online support.
Citizens Advice offers free, confidential advice on a huge range of issues including work, debt and money and energy bills.
Money Helper is a government backed organisation that offers free, independent support to help people with their financial wellbeing. This includes telephone support lines, advice on debt, savings, pensions, and benefits.
Martin Lewis is the Money Saving Expert, and his hugely popular website provides expert advice and money saving tips.
The money advice centre, Money Matters.
Go Fund Yourself is a financial news and education platform for 20-35-year-olds in the UK.
Turn2Us is a national charity that provides free financial advice and support to people in the UK in crisis.
Step Change is a highly regarded debt advice service, helping people with debt problems take back control of their finances and their lives.
If you wish to build financial wellbeing across your organisation, the Money and Pensions Service is a good, first port of call. This organisation has a regional partnerships team, offering free support and practical ways to help. Maximising the value of your existing Employee Benefits is another way to support your people. If your business has a Life Assurance scheme in place, it may include a free Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that will almost certainly offer online support for everything from financial wellbeing to free exercise classes and 24/7 counselling for when life gets really tough. Some providers also offer perks, discounts and cashback on everyday purchases, which can really help the pound go further just when it is needed the most.
If this isn’t something that your business already does, then setting up an EAP can cost as little as £600 per year for a firm with less than 50 employees*. It’s a relatively low-cost benefit that offers excellent value to your team. Private medical insurance (PMI) schemes may also offer EAP and if this something you already pay for, it might be worth investigating if it could be added as a bolt-on, which would represent good value for money.
If you would like any help putting together a financial wellbeing policy, setting up an EAP scheme or making your existing benefits go further, then get in touch at hello@theinkgroup.co.uk.
* EAP quote of £600 + VAT with Health Assured (https://www.healthassured.org/ for 1-49 employees, fixed for 5 years.