Financial literacy among young people should improve following the announcement in the Budget about increased funding for maths education and teacher training, says the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI).

The CISI has welcomed announcements by the Chancellor that extra funding would be made available to boost maths teaching in schools.

Simon Culhane Chartered FCSI, CISI chief executive, said: “The understanding of maths is at the core of financial literacy education and the extra funding payment to train maths teachers across the UK is a key initiative in efforts to improve this. 

“Highly skilled and trained maths teachers are crucial to imparting confidence to students, of all ages, when working with numbers at any point in their lives.”

Financial literacy is crucial especially as many young people will face debt from their student loans following university, says the CISI.

Elizabeth Rowan, CISI educational development manager said: “With student loans being a concern for those attending university, a good grasp of maths and understanding of financial literacy for young people is more important than ever. Therefore the Government’s initiative on maths funding recognises that numeracy skills are key if the UK is to build a strong and globally competitive economy.

“The MyBnk KickStart Money project, managed by the Tax Incentivised Savings Association (TISA) which aims to boost personal finance education in primary schools, is a fantastic initiative to help catch young brains early and embed a life-long love of numbers and money management.”

The CISI suggests that further education about financial literacy should incorporate the risks involved in issues such as betting and gambling.

Mr Culhane added: “Our YouGov survey in 2015 on gambling raised a number of issues, including education in respect of financial literacy, particularly linked to betting and gambling. We suggested then that existing financial literacy education should incorporate more about risks associated with gambling and the concept of probability. 

“Our survey showed that although probability is on the National Curriculum students are struggling to apply this learning in real life to gambling.”