Barclays has teamed up with three charities to arm young people with financial knowledge through its Money Skills programme.

Action for Children, the National Youth Agency and the National Skills Academy for Financial Services will work with the bank to provide financial education to disadvantaged young people throughout the UK.

Deanna Oppenheimer, CEO of Barlays UK Retail Bank, said:  “It is essential that young people are given the best start in life and having good financial capability is vital in enhancing their life chances and preparing them for independent living. If we, along with our partners, can build financial capability then we are laying the foundation for a better sustainable future for all of the UK by helping to tackel social issues.”

Sessions providing intensive coaching on money management will be run by project workers from Action for Children with Barclays’ staff at 31 sites across the UK, aiming to reach 2,500 disadvantaged people.

The National Skills Academy for Financial Services will be working with Barclays' volunteers on week-long events at 150 local colleges, which will include running workshops and seminars to improve young people’s financial knowledge.

Six charities led by the National Youth Agency will work with Barclays to develop a peer-to-peer mentoring scheme. The National Youth Agency will work with Citizens Advice, Rathbone UK, UK Youth, YouthAccess and YouthNet to provide young adults who are, 'not in education, employment or training’ (NEETs), with money management skills and enable them to share their skills with other young people. 

The Barclays Money Skills programme was launched in 2009 to help disadvantaged people learn how to manage their finances more effectively and aims to help one million people by 2012.