Financial wellbeing means feeling confident in managing money and having enough to meet daily needs and unexpected costs. It is closely linked to health—poor financial wellbeing can contribute to physical and mental health issues, while long-term ill health can make it even harder to achieve financial stability.

In Nottingham, a diverse and multicultural city in the East Midlands, many citizens need support with financial wellbeing. Average full-time weekly pay in the city is around £140 lower than the national average, and more than 10% of working-age adults are out of work due to long-term sickness. Addressing financial wellbeing is therefore a crucial part of improving the overall health and wellbeing of our communities.

A Collaborative Approach to Financial Wellbeing

To help tackle this issue, health and care organisations across Nottingham have come together through our Financial Wellbeing Programme. One of our key aims is to ensure that people can access the right financial information, advice, and support when they need it.

As part of this work, in 2024, we piloted a new financial wellbeing training and support package for staff and volunteers in health and care roles. A total of 66 people participated, receiving information about local financial support services and completing the All Our Health financial wellbeing e-learning. This free online training, available to all staff and volunteers—including those outside the NHS—takes just 20 to 30 minutes to complete.

Participants included professionals from mental health crisis teams, mental wellbeing support services, and the Family Mentor service, which supports families with children up to four years of age in four Nottingham wards as part of the national Better Start programme.

Building Confidence to Talk About Financial Wellbeing

After completing the training, many staff and volunteers reported:

• Increased awareness of financial support available in Nottingham
• Greater confidence in discussing money matters with service users
• Recognition of their role in having these conversations, as they knew their service users well and understood barriers such as stigma around seeking financial help

Service data reflected this shift—staff and volunteers began asking about financial wellbeing more frequently and signposting people to financial support services. This has already led to positive outcomes for citizens.

For example, one Family Mentor who had completed the All Our Health training was supporting a family with no central heating or hot water. Feeling more confident in discussing financial matters, she initiated a conversation about their situation and signposted them to the local Law Centre. As a result, their landlord addressed the repair issues, and the family started claiming benefits they were entitled to. The family felt that the mentor’s questions had directly led to their improved financial and living conditions, with clear benefits for their overall health and wellbeing.

Lessons Learned and Next Steps

While the pilot project was largely successful, it also highlighted areas for improvement. Some staff and volunteers reported that, although they now knew more about financial wellbeing, the training hadn’t changed their practice. Importantly, they felt that asking about money might be intrusive or unwelcome, so they had not begun having these conversations more often.

Looking ahead to 2025, we will take these insights forward as we expand the training programme to a larger group of staff and volunteers. The revised training package will include:

• Practical opportunities to role-play conversations about financial wellbeing
• Guidance on overcoming barriers to discussing money—both for staff and service users
• Strategies to build confidence in initiating discussions about financial support

Staff and volunteers from the first phase of the programme continue to apply their learning, remaining professionally curious and supporting the financial wellbeing of the people they work with. By refining and expanding our approach, we hope to empower even more frontline workers to have meaningful conversations about financial wellbeing, leading to better outcomes for citizens across Nottingham.