This paper outlines findings from a multi-method evaluation and service design study of the pilot phase of the Financial Inclusion Support Officers (FISO) in schools programme. Starting in February 2020, the FISO programme was piloted over the course of 12-months in four secondary schools in Glasgow to explore how to effectively embed financial inclusion support in schools. The idea of providing financial inclusion support via schools emerged from conversations Glasgow City Council staff had in early 2019 with parents and multi-agency community groups in poorer neighbourhoods, most notably with the Calton Child Poverty Network, a community organisation in one of the most deprived areas in the city. 

The study explored how the process of providing financial inclusion support in schools is seen through three lenses:  Those of the schools, including head teachers and other teaching staff involved,  those of the financial inclusion advisors and, those of the users of the service. It also unpacked and evaluated the service delivery process, particularly how parents were identified or identified themselves as potential beneficiaries,  how the referral system within the four pilot school operated,  how the process of providing the support is managed and, how feedback and documented insights from the different parties involved in the process informed the evolving service development. Furthermore, the study examined the outcomes, not only in terms of financial gains but also looking to measures of stability, resilience and self-sufficiency. 

The key insights, themes and learning points that emerged from the pilot study are clustered in five categories:  

• Learning through the service’s implementation including that the decision to take the service to parents and young people through schools has had a notable impact in terms of its core objectives around financial gains (£715,757.84) and debts managed (£41,140.47) during the pilot phase; and that financial inclusion issues cannot be tackled without also taking account of intersecting challenges at risk families face in terms of housing, social isolation, mental health, digital exclusion etc.
• Learning through a collaborative evaluation of the service including the central importance of relationships and of building trust at every level and interface of the service.  
• Opportunities and considerations for ongoing service development including how the level of excellence in service delivery that was provided during the pilot can become the standard for all agencies who work on the service and how the ecosystem of partners that developed around the third sector financial inclusion agency – including the Council, schools and referral partners – can be expanded and strengthened.    
• Questions and themes that emerged from the collaborative evaluation, notably  that to engage citizens more effectively, further learning is required about the logic and vocabulary they use to articulate and make sense of challenges they face, as well as what other trusted spaces in addition to schools they may already be engaged with. 
• Potential future steps and a set of recommendations that were formulated based on insights from the evaluation and broader conversations with the commissioning team in the Council. 

The evaluation and service design study presented in this paper presents a first phase of ongoing work that focuses on the programme’s expansion to the rest of the secondary estate as well as the primary estate in Glasgow.  The study of the pilot phase evidenced the service's initial impact and potential, and informed decisionmaking about, and funding for, expanding FISO to the secondary and primary estates. The research and delivery team have also been approached by other local authorities in Scotland and the UK to learn more about the service and the insights that are emerging from the implementation process on an ongoing basis. 

The research team employed in-depth interviews with managers and providers of the service, interviews with school champions of the service and interviews with a small group of parents and carers from the four pilot schools who accessed the service during the pilot phase. In addition to the interviews, a sample of parents and carers who accessed the service during the pilot were also invited to share their experiences via an SMS survey. The research team also analysed anonymised monitoring data gathered by the voluntary sector provider for the pilot schools as well as reports and data analysis undertaken by the Council on the achievements of the service which provided a comprehensive range of information sources suitable for the multi-method approach that was employed. The evaluation was framed as a collaborative exercise, working with each of the participant groups to ensure that their perspectives were effectively captured in the findings and recommendations. The fact that the research team were seen as independent was important in gaining the trust of respondents, encouraging them to be open in sharing their experiences. Council officials were eager that the research team not only assess the potential of FISO to help families who might not otherwise connect with mainstream financial services to obtain the welfare and other forms of support they are entitled to, but also examine how the relationships and mechanisms of the delivery of FISO might benefit families beyond measures of additional income to incorporate broader wellbeing and inclusion effects.

Interviews with those involved in the four pilot schools shows that the service has worked well. There is overwhelmingly positive feedback from users, providers and from the host schools. The third sector partner provided a gold standard service, which it might prove difficult to replicate elsewhere, with other providers. Much of the success in the pilot phase was attributable to the empathic approach adopted and the interpersonal as well as the specialist finance skills of the person delivering the service. Evaluation of the roll out to the entire secondary estate might provide further, varying evidence about other school settings and/or providers and the experiences families had in these settings. However, the pilot study highlights good practice including monitoring which Council officials should, as far as possible, seek to learn from in implementing subsequent phases, and demonstrates both what the service has achieved and its potential. The study of the pilot phase evidenced the service's initial impact and potential, and informed decisionmaking about, and funding for, expanding FISO to the secondary and primary estates. The research and delivery team have also been approached by other local authorities in Scotland and the UK to learn more about the service and the insights that are emerging from the implementation process on an ongoing basis.

Centre for Civic Innovation/Glasgow City Council. 2021. Child Poverty: Understanding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Access here. Centre for Civic Innovation/Glasgow City Council. 2020. Child Poverty in Glasgow Report 2020. Churchill, S. A., & Marisetty, V. B. 2020. Financial inclusion and poverty: A tale of forty-five thousand households. Applied Economics, 52(16), 1777-1788. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2019.1678732 Evans, K. et al. (eds) 2021. The Big Book of Whole School Wellbeing. London: SAGE. Glasgow City Council’s Local Child Poverty Action Reports: 2019 | 2020 | 2021 Grohmann, A., Klühs, T., & Menkhoff, L. 2018. Does financial literacy improve financial inclusion? cross country evidence. World Development, 111, 84-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.06.020 Habyarimana, J., & Jack, W. 2022. High hopes: Experimental evidence on financial inclusion and the transition to high school in kenya. Economic Development and Cultural Change, https://doi.org/10.1086/723068 Kazemikhasragh, A., & Buoni Pineda, M. V. 2022. Financial inclusion and education: An empirical study of financial inclusion in the face of the pandemic emergency due to Covid‐19 in latin america and the caribbean. Review of Development Economics, 26(3), 1785-1797. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12884 Koomson, I., & Afoakwah, C. 2023. Can financial inclusion improve children's learning outcomes and late school enrolment in a developing country? Applied Economics, 55(3), 237-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2022.2086683 Koomson, I., Villano, R. A., & Hadley, D. 2020. Effect of financial inclusion on poverty and vulnerability to poverty: Evidence using a multidimensional measure of financial inclusion. Social Indicators Research, 149(2), 613-639. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02263-0 Offiong, A. I., Bassey Riman, H., James, G. B., Ogar, A., Okon, E. E., & Mboto, H. W. 2021. Primary school enrolment rate, completion rate and gender balancing in nigeria; the financial inclusion perspective. International Journal of Social Economics, 48(4), 602-621. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-04-2020-0205 Scottish Government. 2021. Child Poverty Analysis. Scottish Government. 2018. Every child, every chance: tackling child poverty delivery plan 2018-2022.