Budgeting Support and Money Guidance (Pilot)

Document Version: 1.0

Document Owner: Board of Trustees

Approved: 27/11/2025

Next Review: 12 months from approval

Our Commitment

Weston Ark Charity is a Christian organisation demonstrating God’s love through practical support for low-income families and individuals. While our ethos is Christian, our services are open to all and delivered without discrimination, creating a safe and welcoming environment for everyone. In that spirit, our budgeting support is free of charge, respectful, and non-judgmental, and is delivered in line with our Safeguarding, Data Protection and Equal Opportunities principles.

Scope and responsibility

This policy applies to all Weston Ark staff and volunteers involved in providing budgeting support or money guidance at The Hughenden Centre or in any Weston Ark activity. Overall responsibility sits with the Trustees, with day-to-day oversight delegated to the Centre Manager and the designated lead for budgeting support.

This policy has been developed with input from local financial inclusion and debt management leads from partner churches.

1. Purpose

This policy sets out what Weston Ark offers in relation to budgeting and money guidance, and when we signpost people to specialist debt advice or independent financial advice.

2. What we offer

Weston Ark provides:

• Budgeting support and money coaching - helping people understand their income and outgoings, prioritise essentials, and create a realistic budget.

• General money guidance - sharing basic information and signposting to trusted organisations, websites and tools.

  
  

Our aim is to:

• Help people gain confidence in managing their money.

• Support people with minimal or manageable debts to understand their options and, where appropriate, contact creditors themselves using their new budget.

• Identify when more specialist advice is needed and connect people to the right service.

This support is offered free of charge at The Hughenden Centre (and any other Weston Ark activities where it is provided) and is open to all, regardless of background or belief. See also our Equal Opportunities principles.

3. What we do not offer

Weston Ark is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide regulated debt counselling or independent financial advice. Weston Ark is not insured to provide financial or investment advice; volunteers must not do so. Nothing in this policy permits staff or volunteers to carry out regulated advice activities.

Weston Ark volunteers and staff do not:

• Provide regulated debt advice (for example, telling someone which specific debt solution to choose or negotiating directly with creditors on their behalf).

• Provide independent financial advice, such as recommending specific financial products, investments, pensions or equity release.

• Complete formal debt solution applications (e.g. Debt Relief Orders, IVAs, bankruptcy) - these must be handled by authorised organisations.

• Handle client funds or make payments on a person’s behalf. Any financial transactions must follow Weston Ark Financial Controls.

Where these are needed, we will help people contact an appropriate advice provider.

4. Who this is for

Our budgeting support is intended for people who:

• Want help to understand or improve their day-to-day money management; and/or

• Have no debt or relatively small / straightforward debts, where a clear budget may enable them to speak to creditors themselves; and/or

• Are at an early stage of money difficulties and need help to see the overall picture.

People with significant, urgent or complex debt problems will usually be referred on promptly to specialist services (see section 5).

5. Referral pathways

Based on recognised good practice and our volunteers’ professional experience, Weston Ark will generally:

• Refer to Citizens Advice (e.g. Citizens Advice North Somerset) where:

  • Debts are smaller and may realistically be cleared over a shorter period; or

  • The person needs help understanding their rights and immediate options.

• Refer to StepChange or Christians Against Poverty (CAP) where:

  • There are larger or multiple debts; and/or

  • There are wider issues, such as risk of eviction, court action, bailiff involvement, or very high levels of stress around debt.

• Refer to SOLLA-accredited or similar independent financial advisers for older clients who need advice about capital, property, pensions or care-related financial planning.

• For adults below retirement age seeking independent financial advice: signpost to Unbiased and MoneyHelper ‘Find a financial adviser’ and encourage a check of the FCA Register. We do not recommend specific firms.

Where we are unsure, we will usually signpost to Citizens Advice as a good first point of contact, or to another appropriate advice service.

6. How sessions work

• Sessions are usually informal one-to-one conversations held in a discreet area of the Centre. Volunteers will ensure sessions take place in a quiet space where conversations are less likely to be overheard, taking all reasonable steps to maintain privacy. This activity will be included in Weston Ark’s routine risk assessment cycle for the Centre.

• Volunteers will normally:

  • Listen to the person’s situation.

  • Help them list income, spending and debts using a simple budget sheet.

  • Explore where small changes might help.

  • Discuss whether a referral to a debt advice or financial advice organisation would be helpful.

  • Where appropriate, offer a warm handoff, for example helping the person make the call or complete an online referral during the session.

  • Volunteers must declare any personal ties to lenders, credit unions or financial firms that could represent a conflict of interest and must not accept gifts from service users. Any offers of gifts or hospitality are handled under Annex A: Gifts and Hospitality.

• Volunteers will keep notes to a minimum and explain what, if anything, is written down.

• Only volunteers who have completed a short in-house briefing on this policy, safeguarding basics and the boundary between money guidance and regulated advice may deliver budgeting sessions. Attendance at the briefing will be recorded.

7. Safeguarding and confidentiality

• Volunteers must follow Weston Ark’s existing Safeguarding Policy.

• If someone appears at risk of harm (to themselves or others), volunteers must follow the safeguarding escalation route.

• If someone is at immediate risk, call 999. The Designated Safeguarding Leads for Weston Ark are the Centre Manager and the Safeguarding Trustee, as set out in the Safeguarding Policy.

• Information shared in budgeting sessions is treated confidentially, except where safeguarding or serious risk requires us to share concerns.

• We will only share a person’s details with another organisation for referral purposes with their knowledge and consent, unless there is a safeguarding concern or serious risk of harm.

8. Record keeping

Lawful basis and storage. Any minimal notes are processed under the lawful basis of legitimate interests and kept only in Microsoft 365 SharePoint. Personal email accounts and local storage are not to be used.

• We will not normally record detailed financial information.

• Where we do record any information, it will usually be limited to:

  • First name and basic contact details (if a follow-up is requested).

  • Date of contact.

  • Whether we provided budgeting support and/or made a referral, and to whom.

• Any records will be stored securely in line with our Data Protection and Privacy policies.

• Records will be retained only as long as necessary for monitoring and safeguarding purposes, in line with Weston Ark’s data protection arrangements, and then securely deleted. For this pilot, minimal session notes will normally be deleted after 12 months unless there is a safeguarding reason to retain them longer.

9. Feedback and complaints

We welcome feedback on this support. Service users may raise comments or concerns with the Centre Manager, or directly with the Chair of Trustees for formal complaints. We will acknowledge and respond promptly.

10. Review

This is a pilot policy and will be reviewed after six months of operation, or sooner if needed, considering experience and feedback from volunteers and partner organisations.