‘How I learned to manage my money better’: the life skills programme that’s making an impact

Claire Gordon, education and skills director at Business in the Community, with LifeSkills student Marcus Haskins. Photograph: Chad Alexander/The Guardian

In the north-east of England, Sandra* was struggling to get back to work. She needed an income but was finding it impossible to organise affordable childcare, or get a job with the flexibility her family needed. While visiting a local children’s centre, she stumbled across a Barclays LifeSkills workshop, run by the charity Family Action, and signed up on the spot.

“Over a number of weeks, she was supported with interview skills and CV writing, and discussions about where she wanted to be,” says Louise Reilly, the LifeSkills lead at Family Action. “She also revealed that she really liked gardening. And by the end of the project she had set herself up as a self-employed gardener. My colleague felt quite overwhelmed at how far she’d come over such a small amount of time.”