There’s a third type of participant: professionals from services such as the council, Jobcentres, banks or local charities. But they attend as individuals, leaving lanyards at the door – and maybe sharing personal experiences of money worries. That helps participants build trust with the key people they might need in future, according to the co-founders. “You’re not saying, ‘I’ve got to go to the Citizens Advice this afternoon, and I’m really nervous. You’re saying, ‘I’m just going to pop along and see what Sylvia says,” explains Taylor.
The mother-daughter pair are clear that this is not a conventional budgeting course; it doesn’t involve showing all your bills to an expert to get their advice. “We don’t say: ‘This is how you budget’. We say, ‘How do you budget?’, and see what we get from around the room,” says Badenoch.
As Jay, a mental health nurse in Colchester who took part earlier this year, puts it: “Some of the solutions are with the participants.” He now tracks his income and expenses on a spreadsheet, an idea he learned from another participant. He is more careful with non-essential purchases and is ready to shop around for better utilities deals. Switching his car finance saves him £480 a year.
It is a “much gentler” approach, Badenoch says. Yet it appears to make a difference. Changes made by the 120 participants so far add up to £203,000 in annual savings, and they report an average improvement of 44% in money confidence and 39% in wellbeing, according to Trusted’s own monitoring.
Badenoch and Taylor both trained as accounting technicians but have worked in various fields including retail banking and insurance fraud. In 2022 they joined a “citizen incubator” hosted by Eastlight Community Homes, a housing association, which paid 20 Essex residents to dedicate a year to research, design and pilot a solution to an issue in their own community. Trusted Money Confidence proved successful, and has since attracted funding from Braintree District Council, the National Lottery and others.
Badenoch says “visceral knowledge of poverty” informs the programme’s design. Rather than singling out those in need – “you don’t want to be the different one” – every attendee gets vouchers to help compensate for outlays such as babysitting or train tickets. The first sessions ease people in: conversation prompts explore ways of increasing income and prioritising spending. By the time debt comes up, people are surprisingly open.
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Success comes down to thoughtful facilitation, says Taylor, including finding suitable guest professionals, letting participants do most of the talking – and bringing humour to the room. “We have a laugh,” she says.
Julie, who works in healthcare, has struggled all her life with money, but until recently had never sought help. “I’ve struggled on my own a lot,” she says. “I’m ex-military, and I’m always like, ‘Oh, I can do things myself.’ And then you don’t know where to go… you’re not connected to the right people, you don’t know what’s out there.”
Attending Trusted Money Confidence in Braintree, Essex, was an eye-opener. She has started a regular savings account, switched her car insurance and feels her finances have “definitely improved’’.
Something else has changed. “I’ve been a lot more proactive in reaching out for help,” says Julie. She has ADHD and dyslexia, struggles with being overweight, and has problems with clutter. The Trusted programme directly led her to a free weight management course and she’s now getting support from a specialist in hoarding. For her, the programme – and the community it has created – is about “emotional support as well”. She has made friends there.
Initiatives like Trusted Money Confidence may be more needed than ever. Thousands of banks and building society branches have closed – at a rate of 53 per month – in the last decade. That clearly impacts anyone who is less comfortable with online banking, says Badenoch.
“It’s not so easy to juggle your money or understand what an ISA is, for example, if there’s not a person to ask,” says. Meanwhile, debt is a growing concern. Citizens Advice helped more than 400,000 people with debt problems in 2025 – a jump of nearly 45% since 2021. And more people now use credit to pay for essentials.
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There’s one small silver lining: a little less stigma, for some people, in needing help. “Because the cost of living is so prevalent now, going to a food bank is more of an evening activity than a shameful thing now – that shift is happening,” says Badenoch.
Trusted Money Confidence will soon run in a third town, with plans to reach a fourth. It has also run some programmes within companies – contrary to expectation, people do open up with their colleagues, says Taylor.
Significant expansion may be challenging, however. Planning and facilitation is time-intensive, and the organisers stay in touch with attendees afterwards. But the co-founders wouldn’t have it any other way. “We absolutely love what we’re doing,” says Taylor.
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