Multiply: Free Financial Literacy support available for employees of Essex businesses through the Multiply scheme from Essex County Council
The Multiply programme, a countywide campaign launched by Essex County Council, is part of the UK Government’s Levelling Up strategy, and aims to improve adult numeracy and create ‘Skills for Life’ for residents in the county – improving wellbeing, boosting career prospects, and managing finances.
Numeracy skills have been identified as a key way to help people have the confidence to get on in life, and to succeed at work, and to grow the UK economy. Amplified by the cost of living crisis, support for transferable numeracy skills are needed more than ever, to help people budget effectively, improve their skills, help children with their homework, and secure more opportunities for employment and higher wages.
Essex County Council secured £7.9m through the scheme to provide 14,200 opportunities to take up the Multiply programme across the County until March 2025. Essex was ranked 114 out of 151 authorities in England for maths skills, the 38th lowest in the UK, and showed a significant gap in adult numeracy compared to the national average. With scope identified for billions to be potentially added to the UK economy if the workforce had higher levels of maths skills, and the economic development of the county a primary focus in recent years, the programme has potential to make a significant difference to the county of Essex.
The Multiply programme will be delivered through a range of skills providers with the support of partners like Backing Essex Business, and will support Essex residents aged 19 and over, who don’t have a math’s GCSE at grade C or above, to achieve math’s qualifications up to NVQ2 (GCSE grade A*-C or 4-9) through free bite-sized and longer-term courses. Delivered across Essex both in-person and online, the Multiply programme will have start dates throughout the year, to fit in with people’s lives.
According to research carried out by DofE, people who improve their numeracy skills are more likely to be in paid employment, earn higher wages, and have better wellbeing through budgeting their finances. People with higher numeracy skills are also more able to progress to higher levels of free training.
Essex businesses can benefit from uptake in the scheme, as workers with developed numeracy skills can help to boost productivity, profits, and improve employee retention. Creating access to the scheme can also provide added value for employees, through support from their employer in dealing with cost-of-living concerns such as analysing household bills and finding new providers. There is also scope for provision of employer specific courses if several members of their workforce may benefit from the free training.
