Financial Wellbeing
Financial wellbeing support for you and your employees, all in one place.
Why Financial Wellbeing Is Important
There’s a growing focus on financial wellbeing, particularly following the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis, meaning people are now looking for more support in this area.
We know there’s a clear link between financial wellbeing and mental health, with people in debt significantly more likely to experience mental health problems, and people with mental health problems more likely to be in debt (Money and Mental Health PDF, 27KB). Therefore, there’s a growing expectation on employers to support their employees more broadly with financial education and support, where they can.
RetireWell
To help you share our financial wellbeing support with your employees, we’ve created a range of employee engagement materials, including an upcoming live webinar, that explain the resources available and benefits they offer. Your Relationship Manager can help you use these materials to complement your existing employee engagement plans. Or you can access the materials directly via our Financial Wellbeing ReadyMade Campaign on RetireWell. RetireWell can help your employees throughout their retirement journey. Watch our short film to hear from Retirement Expert Stuart Hopley how to make the most of it.
FINANCIAL WELLBEING RESOURCES
OUR FINANCIAL WELLBEING SUPPORT
Helping people understand their pension, and feel more on top of their finances today, can help them better prepare for retirement and their future financial wellbeing. We offer a range of helpful resources to enable you to support your employees with their financial wellbeing requirements. Explore each resource in more detail below.
Our employee financial wellbeing website, Be Money Well, offers a wide range of free learning to equip people with the financial and digital skills that can help them manage their money and plan for their future.
Topics covered include:
- Taking on your pension
- Financial essentials
- Life’s money moments
- Boosting your online skills
- Support for difficult times
- Support through the cost-of-living crisis
Each topic is broken down into bitesize lessons which contain guidance and “how to” steps to help increase financial knowledge and confidence. There are also short films and access to tools from both Scottish Widows and Money Helper.
Tips to talk about money
Money is often considered a taboo subject. But given most aspects of our lives are affected by our finances in one way or another, not talking about money can cause problems. We explore the benefits of talking about money and include tips on how to start these conversations with friends and family. There’s also support for people who don’t feel safe talking about money.
Monthly blog: Helping you to Be Money Well
Our financial wellbeing blog series is centred around industry awareness days and key insights, and we explore each topic to help employees better understand and manage different aspects of everyday finances.
Additional support
In addition to all of the above, employees can also access support from external charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support and Mental Health UK, and find links to external sites, such as information on the support available from the Government.
You can share Be Money Well with your employees using the RetireWell employee engagement materials referenced above, or you can share the link below with them directly.
Visit Be Money Well
Around 83% of people with cancer experience some kind of financial impact from their diagnosis, which equates to £891 on average per month.*
Macmillan offer support for those with/affected by cancer. They can help people understand the financial impact of a diagnosis, as well as their work and welfare rights. They can also connect employees with a nurse to help them further understand a diagnosis.
Since our partnership began in 2021, we’ve referred 834 customers to Macmillan who have received the support they need. Through the financial grants Macmillan offer, and by signposting these members to Government support they may be entitled to, these referrals have resulted in over £405,000 of financial support being provided.*
Your employees can call our member helpline and we will arrange a referral and callback within 2 days. The phone number for our member helpline can be found on your pension information website, within the Scottish Widows app, or on any communications your employees receive from us.
*Source: Macmillan, September 2024.
In an ever-progressing digital world, we want to support people to enhance their digital skills, ultimately giving them the knowledge and confidence to manage their finances online.
We Are Digital, our charity partner, offer a free digital skills helpline for people who have little to no digital skills or access to a digital device. This service provides members with an opportunity to receive one to one digital upskilling from an expert at the charity themselves.
You can let your employees know all about the support available through the digital helpline using the RetireWell employee engagement materials referenced above. The helpline is also signposted throughout the ‘boosting your online skills’ topic on Be Money Well.
Employees can call the digital helpline directly on 0345 222 0333, or access it via our member helpline. The phone number for our member helpline can be found on your pension information website or on any communications your employees receive from us.
Citizens Advice provides free advice and information on various topics. For members in financial distress, they will complete a full financial review and assess entitlement to the Household Support Fund, Energy Efficiencies and Foodbank vouchers. They can also signpost to debt support and hardship funds/grants.
Employees can call our member helpline and we will arrange a referral and callback within 2 days. The phone number for our member helpline can be found on your pension information website or on any communications your employees receive from us.
Regular financial wellbeing thought leadership
Visit our Workplace Pensions insights page for the latest news, expertise and thought leadership on a variety of topics, including financial wellbeing, from Scottish Widows’ experts.
For employer use only.