Seafish launches money management training programme for new recruits

The Seafarers’ Charity has worked with Seafish, The Money Charity, and other stakeholders to develop a new training course on money management for new entrants to the fishing industry.

The training will set new recruits on the right financial path, says the Seafarer’s Charity, and enable an understanding of how to manage fluctuations in income, the complexities of budgeting and making credit choices as well as a range of free resources which can help with money management. 

The charity’s ‘Fishing Without A Safety Net’ research report shows many of the financial challenges facing share fishers and provides recommendations for a range of solutions, including improving money management skills and helping build a ‘safety net’ to support the financial resilience of fishing families.

Simon Potten, head of safety & training at Seafish explains: “Most new entrants starting work in the fishing industry only receive basic safety training, often leaving them poorly prepared for managing their finances as self-employed share fishers. This course helps to address that gap by providing new entrants with a basic level of financial awareness that will enable them to better manage their finances and hopefully prevent them getting into financial difficulties. Seafish is delighted to be able to incorporate the course into its fully-funded 3-week Introduction to Commercial Fishing course and will be encouraging its network of Approved Training Providers to offer the course to new entrants attending basic safety training.”

The Seafarers’ Charity commissioned The Money Charity to develop the training, which was developed in partnership with a working group of industry stakeholders including The Fishermen’s Mission, Fishing Into the Future, the Fishing Animateurs and Seafish. The training will improve understanding of personal finance and money management and is the first-time a bespoke financial capability training course has been made available to the fishing community.

“Our revealing research, Fishing Without a Safety Net revealed the precarious financial position of many small-scale fishers,” says Catherine Spencer, chief executive of The Seafarers’ Charity. “We’re really pleased to work with The Money Charity and Seafish to ensure that fishers have access to information and financial capability training to support their money management skills and practices. We have already announced that the Commsave Credit Union is able to provide affordable financial services for fishers. 

“Initiatives to improve financial capability, such as this new training course, a financial champions webinar and Commsave Credit Union are just some of many initiatives we are funding to help fishers thrive.”