Duff & Phelps Charitable Foundation Supports Financial Literacy Scheme for Primary School Students Across UK

London – The Duff & Phelps Charitable Foundation and City Pay It Forward, a charity working to improve children’s financial literacy, has today launched a curriculum that is now available in every primary school in the UK.

City Pay it Forward is a non-profit organization that seeks to bring financial education into primary schools, in order to better equip children to understand and manage their money. Working in partnership with a number of leading educators and Rising Stars, part of Hodder Education, one of the largest educational publishers in the UK, it has developed a comprehensive year 6 curriculum that is available, for free, to teachers and schools across the UK. In total, almost 700,000 children in 21,000 schools will now have access to City Pay it Forward’s materials.

Launched in February 2018, the Duff & Phelps Charitable Foundation is committed to nurturing innovative ideas, impacting economic and social issues, and enabling progress in underserved communities around the globe. Its focus is to support non-profit organizations that promote financial literacy and opportunity, diversity and critical needs or disaster response in line with the values of Duff & Phelps employment centers and clients. The impact of the Duff & Phelps Charitable Foundation reflects the generosity and spirit of the firm’s colleagues and clients, who believe in the power of contributing to their communities. In 2019, the foundation granted almost half a million to charities across the globe.

Paul Teuten, Managing Director in M&A at Duff & Phelps, commented: “Like City Pay It Forward, we too share the view that financial literacy is core to the wellbeing of a society, and we are proud supporters of this program.”

Quentin Nason, founder of City Pay it Forward, described the rationale for launching the initiative: “Research tells us that four in ten adults are not in control of their finances and average debt-to-income ratio for 17-24-year old’s now stands at nearly 70%. These are startling figures which demonstrates the need to equip younger generations with the tools both to understand and manage their finances effectively to help them make more informed decisions.

The independent charity was established in 2016 by a group of parents with financial and business backgrounds whose aim is to make an impact on the next generation by teaching them the basics in financial literacy. Concerned about the worrisome statistics on youth indebtedness, the group, in their spare time, over weekends and long evenings, collaborated with fifteen Head Teachers and Year 6 teachers to produce the financial literacy materials from scratch which schools would find easy to use. To date, City Pay it Forward has worked with 150 schools across the country and engaged with over 15,000 students. 

Quentin explained “Even though recent studies found that money habits are formed by the age of seven, financial education is not statutory. We believe that it’s essential to begin the educational process at an early age and that’s why we’re providing this free curriculum to every single primary school in the UK.”

The City Pay It Forward curriculum provides teaching materials – including videos, PowerPoint presentations, teachers notes and homework assignments – in an easily digestible, dynamic format. The content has been developed in collaboration with teaching professionals and underwent a peer-review process and has been awarded the Young Money Quality Mark which is endorsed by the Department for Education and Education Scotland.

Avis Hawkins, Head Teacher of Christ Church Primary School, named as the best school in England by The Sunday Times Schools Guide, has worked with City Pay It Forward to develop the curriculum. She added: “As Britain shifts to become a cashless society, we’ve noticed that children’s relationship with money has become more abstract and complex. I’m therefore delighted to have worked with City Pay it Forward to develop a program that can play an essential role in preparing children to be financially competent and responsible adults”. 

Jane Tyler, Publishing Director of Rising Stars and Galore Park said: “We are very pleased to be working in partnership with City Pay it Forward to deliver this financial literacy curriculum to primary schools.” Nick Lawson, on behalf of the Angus Lawson Memorial Trust, a charity partner, commented: “We are committed to improving the lives of children around the world and we are excited about having the chance to work with City Pay it Forward to provide an opportunity to help students around the UK make more educated financial decisions.”

For more information, please visit:

• citypayitforward.com
• risingstars-uk.com/CityPayitForward
• almt.org
• Duff & Phelps Corporate Responsibility 

About Duff & Phelps
Duff & Phelps is the global advisor that protects, restores and maximizes value for clients in the areas of valuation, corporate finance, investigations, disputes, cybersecurity, compliance and regulatory matters, and other governance-related issues. Our clients span across diverse sectors, mitigating risk to assets, operations and people. With Kroll, a division of Duff & Phelps since 2018, the firm has nearly 3,500 professionals in 28 countries around the world. To learn more, visit www.duffandphelps.com.

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