Burmantofts Community Projects is a registered charity based in Burmantofts, one of the most economically deprived areas of Leeds. They deliver Money Buddies, an independent Money Advice Service providing free, confidential support with budgeting, benefits, debt and money worries.
In late 2025, 100% Digital Leeds provided Burmantofts Community Projects with a grant via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to support an eight-month pilot of Digital Buddies. The grant paid for a Digital Buddy to offer digital skills support and access as part of the Money Buddies service, for one day a week.
“This pilot demonstrates that advice alone is not enough. People need the confidence and practical support to act in the moment. By embedding Digital Buddies alongside our Money Buddies, we are enabling immediate action, delivering stronger financial outcomes and building lasting resilience. Digital inclusion is fundamental to tackling poverty and ensuring people can access the support they deserve.”
Chief Executive Officer, Money Buddies.
Between November 2025 and mid-March 2026, the Digital Buddy supported clients to use digital tools and services to implement the advice given in their Money Buddies session. This gave clients more time and support to complete digital actions immediately, under guidance, which led to remarkable improvements in financial gains for clients. Clients supported by the Digital Buddy as well as a Money Buddy saw an eightfold increase in Universal Credit awards and financial gains 32% higher than clients supported by a Money Buddy alone. Most importantly, support from a Digital Buddy increased clients’ ability to manage their own finances more effectively in the future, significantly reducing the chance of recurring poverty. These are long-lasting impacts such as better management of benefit entitlements, improved employment gains, financial budgeting, and money management.
“Digital can give you instant results in a lot of interactions. When a Digital Buddy is there to support someone to put the advice they’ve just received from a Money Buddy into practice straight away, we can say to a person ‘You’ve applied for that. That’s a chunk of money you’re expecting.’ We can put that down as something that we have done, and that is set in motion. Without a Digital Buddy to support there and then, if a Money Buddy advises someone in a meeting to do ten things, realistically only five of those are probably getting done. For a good chunk of the recommended actions, people will come back to us a month later and say ‘I can’t remember what I needed to do,’ or ‘I’ve got this big list and I’m just freaking out.’”
Director of Operations, Money Buddies.
The link between digital inclusion and financial resilience
In December 2024 Trussell Trust and Good Things Foundation commissioned a report Exploring the relationship between deep poverty and digital exclusion.
“Everyday access to the digital world is now the passport to essential services – from paying rent to finding a home, from getting a job to claiming Universal Credit… Many forms of financial support (statutory and discretionary) are now digital-first. Digitalisation brings significant benefits to many, but it also carries major risks to individuals and households who face one or more digital exclusion barriers.”
Exploring the relationship between deep poverty and digital exclusion, 2024.
The report highlights the following examples of how poverty and digital exclusion exacerbate each other:
- People receiving Universal Credit may not always be able to afford a device or connectivity, putting them – and their children – at risk of sanctions, and of deep poverty.
- Universal Credit claimants were six times more likely to have stopped spending on broadband altogether in the last twelve months than those not in receipt of Universal Credit.
- Many people who can’t afford to be online face a ‘poverty premium’ for goods and services.
- People with the least digital capabilities are nine times more likely to struggle immediately following a financial shock than those with the highest digital capabilities (27% vs. 3%).
The Lloyds Consumer Digital Index highlights how digital literacy impacts on financial wellbeing:
“Being digitally literate can significantly impact financial wellbeing by enhancing control over personal finances, increasing savings, reducing stress, improving financial decisions and building financial resilience.”
Lloyds Consumer Digital Index
Lloyds highlight the following examples of how improved digital inclusion can improve financial resilience:
- Enhanced control: Individuals who are digitally literate and confident online are more likely to feel in control of their finances. They can access advice and resources online and use digital tools such as auto-savings, round-ups and credit score monitoring to manage their money, set financial goals and prepare for the future. This confidence translates into better financial planning and resilience.
- Increased savings: Those with high digital capability are able to save more money annually compared to those with low digital capability, primarily through being able to access better deals and discounts online for purchases and financial products.
- Reduced financial stress: People who are comfortable using digital tools to help with managing their finances are less likely to lose sleep over money worries and feel more on-track to meet their future financial needs.
- Better financial decisions and improved resilience: Digital tools provide users with insights and advice that can help them make informed financial decisions around things such as budgeting, spending and investing. This in turn leads to improved financial resilience, with those who are digitally confident better prepared to withstand financial shocks.
Digital Buddies: embedded digital inclusion
Money Buddies is a money advice service with professionally trained staff working across various roles including Money Buddies, Energy Buddies, and Debt Advisors. They provide advice from their Hub at Ebor Gardens Advice Centre, and from various centres across Leeds, including Community Hubs and food banks.
The service works holistically, with Money Buddies as the face of the service. Money Buddies provide early help, practical guidance, and preventative support, and are, predominately, the first person a client meets. The Money Buddy will listen to the client, understand what support is needed, and provide money guidance where they can. This includes helping clients understand and manage their money, providing budgeting support and money-saving advice, offering general advice about debts and options available, and helping people maximise their income by understanding and accessing the benefits they are entitled to receive.
If the client needs debt advice, they will be referred to a Debt Adviser, who is a trained specialist that can provide advice under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations. Debt Advisers can help with all personal debts, including gas, electricity and water arrears, rent and mortgage arrears, and council tax arrears. They support people involved with loan sharks, payday lenders, and doorstep lenders. They offer emergency debt advice where a financial crisis, if not dealt with immediately, will result in a loss of possessions, energy supply or home, and potential imprisonment.
If the client needs energy advice, they will be referred to a specially trained Energy Buddy. They offer energy advice, supporting people to keep their home warmer for less money, get rid of unwanted draughts, and cut down on lighting costs.
With the support of 100% Digital Leeds and funding via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Burmantofts Community Projects began an eight-month pilot of Digital Buddies. The pilot saw a Digital Buddy offering digital skills support and access as part of the Money Buddies service, for one day a week.
To date, Money Buddies have trialled providing a Digital Buddy within food banks, Leeds City Council Community Hubs, and the organisation’s Hub, Ebor Gardens Advice Centre in Burmantofts. The Digital Buddy has provided clients with digital support such as using email effectively, accessing benefit entitlement calculators, managing Universal Credit and Government Gateway accounts, conducting safe online purchases, using online banking tools, and navigating employment search platforms.
Money Buddies trialled embedding digital inclusion support into their services in three different ways:
- Stand-alone Digital Buddy: The Digital Buddy spent time at food banks, offering full digital inclusion support to service users. Clients were encouraged to access the support of the Digital Buddy by food bank volunteers.
- Upskilling Money Buddies to include Digital inclusion activities: Money Buddies were encouraged to be more proactive in helping clients get online during existing advice sessions.
- ‘Side-by-side’ Digital Buddy: The Digital Buddy worked alongside a Money Buddy, with clients receiving a warm handover from the Money Buddy to the Digital Buddy to facilitate actions advised.
Initially, the Digital Buddy set up in the same food bank as the Money Buddy, but the support was kept separate, leaving the Digital Buddy to engage clients alone. This approach saw relatively low levels of engagement with the digital support available.
“We found there wasn’t as much interaction from people as we were hoping. Quite a lot of people were more interested in grabbing their food and leaving. When a client spoke to the Money Buddy, they weren’t really concerned about the digital inclusion support. It didn’t work as well as we hoped within a food bank environment.”
Digital Buddy, Money Buddies.
Upskilling the existing Money Buddies to include more digital inclusion activities as part of their role was impactful where Money Buddies had the capacity. This approach saw Money Buddies being more proactive in helping clients to use digital tools to action advice given during the session. This approach was particularly successful at drop-in advice sessions where Money Buddies may have more time to offer skills support as they’re not tied to a specific appointment length. This approach was most successful at the organisation’s Hub, Ebor Gardens Advice Centre, as people tend to drop in seeking more practical support with a specific issue.
“We get a lot of people coming to the Hub who have more specific questions than the people who see a Money Buddy in an outreach session. If they’ve come here, they’ve come here specifically for that support. A lot of time that support is at least partially ‘How do I do this thing?’ We get a lot of people coming in saying things like ‘I’ve been told I need to do my council tax online. How do I do that?’ and they just want to be shown how to do what they need to do, on their own device, usually a smartphone. We see people needing to transfer from one handset to another. They’ve been doing their journals on their old phone and they want to know how they do it on their new phone and that sort of thing.”
Digital Buddy, Money Buddies.
This approach came with some challenges. Money Buddies spending time supporting the client to use digital tools meant they had a reduced amount of time for other aspects of their work. This led to some areas not performing as well, such as grant and trust fund applications, which often require the input from a third sector service and are not solely accessible for clients.
A Digital Buddy working side-by-side with a Money Buddy proved to be a more impactful approach during outreach appointments, where clients often present with more complex issues.
“We tried the Digital Buddy next to the Money Buddy, with the Money Buddy facilitating a warm transfer. So, the Money Buddy would do what they needed to do with the client, going through all the different advice and ways of saving, and then they would literally hand over to the Digital Buddy, encouraging clients to sit with the Digital Buddy and action the advice they had just given. We saw much better interactions and results through that process. Having a Digital Buddy alongside a Money Buddy adds a lot of extra value.”
Director of Operations, Money Buddies.
This approach saw clients engaging with Digital Buddy support to carrying out lengthy, complex tasks such as Universal Credit applications, maintaining their claim by accessing their Journal, and checking welfare support accessibility, which was very popular with clients.
“Making a mistake with Universal Credit leads to people being sanctioned. When people have a period where there’s no money coming in, it can be a big problem for a lot of people. We see so many people with rent arrears, council tax arrears, and electricity arrears because of sanctions. Because, when you are back up against the wall with £200 for the month, you buy food. That’s how you get through the month. That’s what people prioritise. You’re not paying your rent, which will have repercussions for you. Now we can teach people how to manage their Universal Credit Journal, it should prevent further sanctions going forward, which means people won’t end up behind on rent and other essential household bills.”
Director of Operations, Money Buddies.
Support using email and webchat to communicate with creditors and other parties proved to be particularly impactful. Reducing the physical presence of creditors is important in helping people to manage their mental health whilst dealing with their debt. Being able to help people communicate online with creditors using tools such as web chat means people can address issues quickly and see immediate impact.
“Supporting people to communicate with creditors via email has helped them to reduce the number of letters they receive in the post. For a lot of people with money problems, letters dropping through the post is such a big thing. People come saying ‘I’ve got a bag of letters I’m terrified of opening.’ They feel paralysed. The amount of bills and letters they receive stops them from looking at other important information, like medical appointments. Some people end up throwing all their post away out of fear and desperation. Switching everything to email makes a big difference because then you can forward it without opening it. And then you just say ‘Well, I’ve done something. I’ve not opened it, but I’ve given it to the person who can help.’ It’s better that happens. When they know that they’ll no longer get bills in the post, and they will come to their inbox instead, it helps free up a lot of mental space for people.”
Director of Operations, Money Buddies.
Helping clients to communicate with creditors and other parties digitally also positively impacted on organisational effectiveness, supporting Money Buddies to make more efficient use of their appointment time with clients.
“Moving to receiving bills and letters from creditors via email rather than in the post means people working with one of our Debt Advisors can forward them important emails before their appointment, meaning the appointment is more effective and efficient. Instead of them getting a letter and having to wait to get that letter to us or having to remember to bring it when they come to an appointment, they can now forward the emails as they come into their inbox.
When they come to the appointment the Debt Advisor can now go through and say ‘OK, these are the letters you’ve sent me. You’ve got an email on this day, this day and this day. I’ve had a look at them already and this is what we’re going to do.’ A lot of the time people have walked into the Hub asking for advice but they haven’t brought their letters with them, or they’ve brought a massive pile to go through. People might come in with a big bag or folder saying ‘I’m too scared to open these. I’ve put them all in this bag. Can I go through it with someone?’ and that might take up the whole appointment. Supporting people to switch to receiving bills and correspondence via email reduces the frequency of that happening, and them being able to forward any emails in advance of their appointment means Debt Advisors can work a lot faster and more efficiently.”
Director of Operations, Money Buddies.
Improved financial gains for clients
Embedding digital inclusion support within the Money Buddies services has led to remarkable improvements in financial gains for clients.
“With more time and support available to allow them to complete their actions immediately under guidance, it’s helped to solidify the advice.”
Director of Operations, Money Buddies.
To understand the impact of embedded digital inclusion support, the outcomes for 63 clients who had Money Buddy guidance only were compared to the outcomes of the clients supported by both a Money Buddy and the Digital Buddy.
Key findings include:
- Digital inclusion led to an overall 32% increase in financial gains overall, going from £152,479.55 to £202,747.50 – an increase of £50,267.95.
- Outcomes went from 3 in 5 being ‘confirmed’ (where Money Buddies know the outcome has been achieved for the client), to 2 in 3 being ‘confirmed’.
- Social Security Welfare benefit uptake increased, with Universal Credit gains increasing by over 8 times by comparison.
- Supporting clients to communicate with creditors online resulted in increased gains through challenging bills and liability. Examples include reporting TV Licences not needed, challenging council tax decisions, and making adjustments to Universal Credit clients’ journals.
- Gains through learning to use online budgeting tools and comparison sites are prominent, as the ‘savings after budgeting’ was reported, where digital inclusion has been included.
Client case studies
Maria’s Story
Maria attended a Money Buddies session to discuss her benefits and Universal Credit. She brought her social worker and a translator as she was unable to speak English. As the meeting with the Money Buddy progressed, it was found that there were parts of Maria’s journal she did not fully understand, as her native language is Portuguese. The Digital Buddy helped Maria access her journal and demonstrated the language tools available to her, and she learnt how to translate the language into Portuguese. The Digital Buddy helped Maria navigate the journal and leave messages for their case worker, as well as supporting her case worker to understand the issues Maria was experiencing in the journal. Support from the Digital Buddy meant Maria avoided benefit sanctions that would have led to her being financially worse off. Maria left the session with increased confidence in using her Universal Credit Journal and improved communication skills, as she now knows how to use translation tools to access information in her own language.
Ken’s Story
Ken requested support from Money Buddies after receiving a letter from the TV licence company threatening to take him to court and impose a magistrates’ fine of up to £1,000 for not having a TV licence at the property. Ken is a middle-aged man and lives alone in a council rented property and relies solely on Universal Credit as his income. The Money Buddy advised Ken that he met the criteria for not needing a TV licence, but he had no online access to notify the TV licence company, so Ken was immediately referred to the Digital Buddy. The Digital Buddy started by helping Ken set up an email account. They then supported Ken to use this to register as ‘No licence needed’ at the property using the online portal. This action immediately updates the TV licence system and stops all collection activity, avoiding the magistrates’ enforcement fine. Such fines can be up to £1,000, are enforced by Bailiffs, and are amongst some of the most difficult debts to deal with once imposed. Without the Digital Buddy, this action would have been left for Ken to complete and, given his level of digital access, would have been very difficult to complete on his own. As part of the same enquiry the Money Buddy identified that Ken may be eligible for further benefits, supporting him to apply for Personal Independence Payments.
Next steps:
Following the success of the Digital Buddy pilot project, 100% Digital Leeds is supporting Burmantofts Community Projects to secure external funding to provide a digital inclusion service focused on improving online money management skills. Additional funding will enable digital inclusion support to be delivered in full and embedded sustainably within the core Money Buddy model, strengthening long-term outcomes rather than short-term crisis responses. Burmantofts Community Projects also plan to embed digital inclusion within their refreshed three-year strategy.