Barking and Dagenham Council has appointed We Are Group to deliver a two-year borough-wide service aimed at helping adults build financial confidence, improve money management skills and seek support before money worries become a crisis.
The council says the service will be for residents aged 18 and over who live in Barking and Dagenham. It is due to be delivered with local community organisations in familiar settings including neighbourhood hubs, community centres, libraries, faith venues and other local organisations.
Support planned through community settings
The appointment follows a competitive tender process, with We Are Group selected to provide advice, classes and early help focused on financial education and prevention. The council says the model is intended to bring support closer to residents through trusted local networks rather than relying only on centralised services.
The planned offer is described as a mix of money education, local outreach and engagement. It is intended to help residents develop the skills, knowledge and confidence to manage their finances and improve longer-term financial wellbeing. The council has framed the service as part of its neighbourhoods approach, which places services and support within local partnerships and community spaces.
No contract value, launch timetable or target number of residents has been set out publicly in the announcement. The council has also not published detailed eligibility criteria beyond the age and residency requirement, or a full breakdown of how sessions will be arranged across the borough.
Early help before problems escalate
The new service is being presented as a preventative response to financial pressure, with the council saying residents should be able to access practical tools and guidance before difficulties worsen. It links the work to concerns about the effect of financial insecurity on health, wellbeing and quality of life.
Councillor Saima Ashraf, the council’s Deputy Leader, said the partnership is intended to reach residents in places where they feel comfortable and to help prevent financial difficulties from becoming a crisis. That is the council’s stated aim for the service, rather than an outcome already demonstrated.
We Are Group’s wider financial wellbeing work includes support with areas such as expenses, budgeting, scam awareness and online banking, with delivery that can take place in person, by phone or remotely. Those elements describe the provider’s general offer and do not, on their own, confirm the exact content of the Barking and Dagenham contract. The locally announced service is specifically described as providing advice, classes, money education, outreach and early intervention for adult residents.
Cost-of-living pressures in the borough
The council has linked the appointment to its wider work with partners on cost-of-living pressures and financial wellbeing. It says the service follows other local initiatives, including the launch of the Big Heart Food Hub, which brings organisations together to provide food support and advice in the community.
As part of the case for the new service, the council has referred to recent resident insight in which 24% of residents said they had skipped a meal because they could not afford it. The announcement does not set out the methodology, sample size or fieldwork date for that figure, so it should be treated as a council-reported indicator of concern rather than an independently tested borough-wide prevalence rate.
The council says the We Are Group partnership is designed to help residents improve money management skills and access support earlier. The service has not yet been shown to have reduced hardship or improved financial wellbeing, and the announcement does not claim that residents have already received help through the new arrangement.
Two-year programme now confirmed
The confirmed term for the service is two years. Over that period, We Are Group is expected to work with community organisations across Barking and Dagenham to deliver support in local settings used by residents.
The appointment gives the borough a named provider for a programme centred on financial confidence and early intervention. Its practical significance will depend on how the service is made available across neighbourhoods, how residents are referred or signposted, and how clearly the offer reaches adults who may be struggling with money pressures before those difficulties intensify.
