Crest developing people’s money-saving skills thanks to Multiply

Crest Co-operative has improved people’s money-saving and budgeting skills with help from Multiply.

It’s a perfect example of how the Numeracy for Living - Multiply project has worked with a range of organisations to help develop the numeracy confidence of the people they support.

Multiply offers easy access to a wide range of FREE maths courses, with Grŵp Llandrillo Menai leading on the project across Gwynedd, Môn, Conwy and Denbighshire.

Earlier this month, Crest Co-operative teamed up with Grŵp Llandrillo Menai to deliver Multiply’s ‘Budgeting for Life’ course at its Llandudno Junction base.

The course formed part of Crest’s Assisted Community Employment (ACE) scheme - a three-month programme to help people in a short-term job find work for the long term.

Andrew Clark, in-work support coordinator at Crest, said: “Multiply had a range of courses and the one we particularly liked was regarding budgeting.

“The candidates on the placement with us are moving into employment and they're from a range of different backgrounds.

“Budgeting is important for them so they can manage their money from possibly new positions, or coming from unemployment to employment - understanding issues surrounding moving on to monthly pay, moving on to weekly pay, to help them understand that in their working life.

“We hope this gives everyone the confidence to manage their money properly. When they do move on to becoming fully employed, it’s knowing they've got the confidence when they're told by their next employer it's monthly pay, and they will know how to cope with stretching out and budgeting throughout the four weeks that they might not be paid.”

Andrew said Crest were attracted to the flexibility and adaptability of Multiply’s courses.

“There's a range of courses which Multiply offers that can often be tweaked,” he said. “One of the things I mentioned was about including some weekly and monthly budgeting courses, so things can be added in and the tutor has been incredibly helpful.

It has been one of the more beneficial parts of what we've done here, because you can have a base course and then customise it a little bit to what you actually need.

Rhian Garner, a learner at the Budgeting in Life session, said: “We've been going through expenditure and income and seeing what we've got left and ways of saving money.

“The tutoring has been very clear and concise to listen to, seeing the number exercises was useful, while it had some surprising twists like having a taste test between cheap and expensive biscuit brands.

“I liked touching on home budgeting, because it's just me and my son so you've got to be careful of the pennies and think about what upcoming costs there are with Christmases and other holidays.

“If you are struggling and you don't know how to manage your income, then it's ideal to come and sit with other people and brainstorm, to get ideas like we have done here.”

Multiply Tutor Stephen Jones said: “This course is about helping people save money and look at where they can make savings in life.

“A lot of the time, if you've not done these things before then they can be a bit daunting. But it's just the process of doing it. So once they've done it here, they can then hopefully take that skill away with the handouts and then keep on applying it.

“We all have to live within means these days, and sometimes it can be quite eye-opening to kind of see where the pennies add up or where you can make savings in life.

“If a course is free and it interests you, then you've got nothing to lose. It's a lovely way to meet people, and a great path to get some new skills and learn something new.”

Multiply is funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Grŵp Llandrillo Menai leads on the Multiply project in Gwynedd, Môn, Conwy and Denbighshire.

To be eligible for Grŵp Llandrillo Menai’s free Multiply courses, you must be 19 years or over, and live within the counties of Gwynedd, Denbighshire, Conwy or Môn. For more information click here. To apply, email multiply@gllm.ac.uk, call 01492 542 338, or complete this online form.

The Multiply project has worked with a broad range of organisations across North Wales, helping to improve the numeracy confidence of the people they work with. For more on how Multiply could benefit your business or organisation, click here.