General Insurance Article - Government must collaborate to deliver on maths initiative

 Matt Saker, President at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, said: “It is encouraging to see the Prime Minister prioritising the importance of addressing skills gaps in mathematics and consequently in financial literacy. As we identified in our report on the Great Risk Transfer, which looks at the trend of transferring financial risk from institutions to individuals, numeracy skills are crucial in helping consumers make informed decisions around financial services such as pensions and insurance.

 If today’s initiative is to gain traction and be delivered successfully and comprehensively, it is vital that it is developed in a collaborative fashion across political parties and bodies already doing valuable work in this area, such as National Numeracy, to provide a consensus for sustained action.

 “We hope the ambition will also go wider to address the maths capability of those who have already left school, supporting them in developing appropriate numeracy life skills, such as household budgeting, as well as looking at adult reskilling in association with employers. There is also the opportunity to work with sector bodies, like Progress Together in the financial services sector, which are seeking to broaden social mobility and diversity in the sector and this initiative could be imaginative in supporting this work.”