Case Study Overcoming fears


At Blackpool Council more employees have passed the National Test in Numeracy than Literacy. However, successes for both are substantial: 474 for numeracy and 462 for literacy. The committed team of ULRs have been integral to this success. Elizabeth Bullen heads up the Learning Partnership, Unions2Learn and co-ordinates the work of the 20 ULRs across the council.


home and work, as well as their confidence levels. They can build on people’s positives and encourage them to overcome any fear of maths.


All ULRs have trained as Credit Union Champions, and as such use their own numeracy skills to help others with financial difficulties. The Credit Union was established by the Council’s Financial Literacy Group, formed in 2005 to support employees and residents of Blackpool to become financially competent. It led to a Financial Inclusion Strategy for Blackpool, ‘Count Me In’, launched in April 2010.


Blackpool Council was the first authority in the area to achieve Go Award status in December 2007 and it signed up to the Skills Pledge in 2008. Both are drivers for a strategic approach to skills improvement. A major challenge has been to help staff overcome the fear factor. A typical response was, ‘I hate maths’, or ‘Don’t ask me to do maths’. Many of the learners had negative experiences in compulsory education which they did not want to re-visit. All ULRs have gained Level 2 in both literacy and numeracy, so they can understand other people’s experiences and feelings towards learning and particularly towards maths. It is very powerful to be able to say to a colleague ‘I’ve just passed mine and if I can do it so can you’. Another approach has been to encourage people who have made progress in literacy or taken another first step into learning to also improve their numeracy.


ULRs are in an excellent position, working alongside their colleagues to understand their previous experience of learning, their commitments at


ULRs support the group by providing information and application forms for the Credit Union which are part of their toolkit, as well as contact details for the Council’s Employee Assistance Programme. Some ULRs are trained to deliver the ‘Money Made Clear’ programme developed by the Consumer Financial Education Body. The ‘Regional Learning and Skills for All Fund’ and Blackpool Council jointly funded a full-time secondment for a ULR to work as a Financial Inclusion Officer. As a result he won the National Go Numeracy Award for his use of numeracy in a financial context. Duties include supporting colleagues to:


• gain budgeting skills; • work on a one-to-one basis with colleagues until confident enough to join a group;


• visit Unison members on long-term sick leave along with the Unison Welfare Officer to offer support, often resulting in identifying/resolving debt issues and returning employees to work quickly;


• signpost employees to Citizens Advice Bureau and Advice Link to resolve debt issues; and


• promote Credit Union benefits and membership to employees.


This work has helped raise the financial capability of many Council employees.


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