This will be my last blog for 2011 so I'm pleased to focus on a couple of real positives.
First, congratulations to Martin Lewis for passing the 100,000 signatories threshold with his petition to make financial education a compulsory part of the school curriculum. The milestone is significant because it means the subject must now be discussed by Parliament, and it's an important subject well worth debating.
The report generated by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People says that "two-thirds of people in the UK feel too confused to make the right choices about their money and more than a third say they don't have the right skills to properly manage their cash". If we allow children to leave school without the necessary skills to manage their money we are going to reap the deserved harvest in years to come. As credit professionals we know only too well the impact of over-indebtedness and that is why the ICM has encouraged its members to engage in the DebtCred project delivering financial education to 14-19 year-olds.
DebtCred is just one initiative and there are numerous similar projects, materials and voluntary activities all with a similar aim and many accredited by pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group) that exists to help schools plan and teach financial capability. A huge amount of good work goes on but it is all ad-hoc and dependent upon the willingness and appetite of individual schools and indeed teachers to engage. When financial education is a compulsory part of the curriculum, all children will receive training in what is a vital skill. I've heard the argument that there is little point in addressing financial education until basic numeracy and literacy skills are adequately addressed. Of course that is true, but the two are not mutually exclusive; even someone who can't read or write has to manage their money, and both should have focus within the curriculum.
Secondly, the Forum of Private Business has been engaging many organisations in preparing a letter to Mark Prisk, the Business Minister urging government to have a clear and detailed plan to address the issue of late payment which can, and all too often does, cripple a small business. The Institute is a co-signatory to the letter and it suggests a number of specific actions that might be taken.
Government has done some good things with its Prompt Payment Code (hosted and administered by the ICM), and its current Finance Fitness campaign but more needs to be done and it needs to be done more cohesively. I'm writing these words shortly after being interviewed on BBC Radio 5Live Wake up to Money and my message is clear. Government needs to recognise late payment for the issue it is and formulate a plan to address it. The business culture needs to change such that paying on time is the norm rather than the exception. But businesses themselves have to be smarter at getting the basics of credit management right, and we credit professionals need to be willing to share our skill and expertise so that our customers can deliver cash for their businesses just as we deliver cash for ours.
The recently launched ICM Online Services (icmOS) SME Collection Toolkit is an attempt to provide a practical tool to achieve that aim.
The ICM press release can be found here, the FPB release here, our Managing Cashflow Guides here, and the icmOS SME Collection Toolkit here.
If you would like to listen to Philp's interview on BBC Radio 5Live click here.
I hope 2011 has been a good year for you and - after some relaxation time at Christmas - I hope 2012 will be even better. See you next year!
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