Brown backs finance lessons in schools

Prime minister Gordon Brown has backed the idea of having personal finance lessons taught in schools in the UK, it has emerged.

With millions of British adults dealing with debt management difficulties, Mr Brown suggested that he would like to see young people across the country gain a better understanding of financial matters at an early age.

The ifs School of Finance welcomed the comments from the prime minister and stressed that it would like to work with the government to make personal finance an examinable subject in schools around the country.

Anne Kiem, director of external affairs at the ifs School of Finance, said: “The ifs School of Finance has long argued that financial education should be added to the core school curriculum, putting personal finance on an equal footing with other subjects such as geography, history and modern foreign languages.”

Earlier this month, a report from the Checkmyfile company suggested that young British consumers are facing debt management problems at an early age because of their “credit hungry” attitude.