Income, spending, saving, debt. The basic equation of staying afloat. Budgeting — keeping track of what comes in vs what goes out. The difference between needs and wants (without moralising). The mechanics of debt — how interest accumulates; the difference between cheap debt (mortgages, low-interest credit) and expensive debt (payday loans, high-APR credit cards, BNPL spirals); when debt is sensible and when it is dangerous. Saving — what counts as an emergency fund, why it matters, how to start small.
For NEO’s cohort, money basics often need to be taught alongside the emotional dimension of money — money shame, money avoidance, family money patterns, financial trauma. The pedagogy is honest about that — adult-life money skills are often re-learning skills the learner had no permission to develop earlier.
Tested by
- ASDAN Lifeskills Challenge
- ASDAN Personal and Social Development
- FS Maths L2 — Number (percentage, ratio, addition/subtraction in money contexts)
Cross-curriculum
- Functional Maths — Number in adult life (the maths underneath money basics)
- Employability — Rights, responsibilities, and pay (income side of the equation — payslips, pension)
- KS4 Maths — Number and KS4 Maths — Ratio, proportion, and rates of change
- RSHE — Health Education (financial stress as a health factor; the relationship between money and mental wellbeing)
Suggested evidence types
- A weekly or monthly budget the learner has built (fictional or real, with consent)
- Debt scenario worked through — total cost over time of a £500 purchase on a 35% APR credit card vs paid in cash
- Reflection on the learner’s own relationship to money (private; can be kept in personal portfolio rather than shared)