250,000 working hours to be ‘invested’ by British workforce

Around 250,000 workers are set to take part in a national scheme designed to help people with their money problems while they are at work.

AXA’s My Budget Day officially launches next Wednesday, 21st November, and internal information collated by the company shows as many as 250,000 employees could be about to benefit from their employer giving them an hour off work to manage and plan their finances. Indeed, research conducted among businesses earlier this year found that as many as 49% of business leaders would consider giving their employees this hour off work, so the number of workers likely to benefit from the initiative over the coming months is likely to be higher again.

The AXA scheme is based on the principle that everyone should spend an hour a month planning and reviewing their finances in order to improve their ability to look after their money. AXA will be allowing all 12,000 of its employees to take an hour off work to sort out their money problems from next Wednesday.

According to AXA, the more time you spend reviewing your finances the more you can afford to set aside in savings. Typically, people who spend an hour a month reviewing their money are able to set aside some £1,300 each year.

Steve Folkard of AXA said: “Spending an hour a month on your finances isn’t long but it can make a huge difference to your financial situation. Just sitting down and reviewing your money is a crucial first step to saving some cash. So we’re asking everyone to take part in My Budget Day and make a habit of finding just one hour in a month when they stop and review their finances.

“To kick start My Budget Day we’re hoping most people will be allowed by their employer to take time off work to review their financial situation. We’re asking employers to get behind the initiative and support their employees in this task.”

CBI Director General Richard Lambert has given his full support to My Budget Day, urging companies to take part. He added: “It’s clear that industry needs to take responsibility for the wellbeing of their employees. There are a lot of companies out there that are considering how they might offer generic financial advice to their employees, and there are parallels with what companies are doing to raise general education levels as well as the fitness of their employees. It all improves morale.”

AXA, who is already offering its 12,000 employees a free hour to do some financial planning in the workplace is encouraging other businesses to do the same. It has set up a dedicated “Information for Businesses” section on the My Budget Day website (axa.co.uk/mybudgetday) which provides all the details an employer needs to roll out a financial education programme in their workplace.