Civil servants across all government departments are to benefit from short courses in financial literacy, thanks to a new partnership between the Civil Service Learning platform and the Association of Accounting Technicians.
The short courses will cover topics such as “business finance basics” and “AAT essentials”, and will enable civil servants, whatever their role, to build upon their financial knowledge.
Government has a wider goal of improving value for taxpayers’ money by building essential financial skills among civil servants, which in turn will help officials with responsibilities such as oversight of programmes, risk management and complex decision-making.
The initiative also supports the stated aim of the government’s industrial strategy, which promises to build commercial skills in government, and give confidence to industry that officials understand how it operates and why investment decisions are made.
According to research carried out by KPMG with National Numeracy and The Economist Educational Foundation, one in four adults in the UK believe school maths did not prepare them to apply their learning in a practical or business context.
AAT is a charity which aims to upskill workers across the UK with financial literacy and business know-how.
Chantel Carpenter, commercial director at AAT, said that strong financial and business skills “give people the confidence and insight to understand how decisions impact outcomes and ultimately improve performance”. As well as upskilling teams, she said the training would ultimately “drive accountability across government”.
The short courses are designed to be accessible to learners of all backgrounds and all levels of experience. Real-world public and private sector examples are used to aid learning. The courses are now live and are bookable through the Civil Service Learning platform here.