In January 2024, Sam Holman and Gerard Starling were appointed as Co-Researchers to lead a financial wellbeing research project. The project aimed to gain more understanding on what money means to people with a learning disability.
Sam, who has a learning disability, was keen to be involved to ensure people have a say about the support they get with money.
Sam and Gerard held two workshops as well as individual interviews to understand people’s experiences. They asked people if they felt they had freedom over what they could spend. Many felt they did but talked about the help they had from their support staff or family members too. This meant that they didn’t feel as worried about managing their money or the impact of challenges like the cost-of-living crisis.
One person shared his experience of buying a pet gecko! His support team helped him visit the shop and learn how to look after a gecko, including ongoing costs. A family member then helped check affordability and arranged to get him the funds from the account they manage on his behalf.
People also shared that having support with some areas of their money was vital.
When reflecting on what they heard, Sam and Gerard felt there were opportunities for some people to build their skills and have more control over their money. For example, they talked to people about knowing more about their savings. This would allow them to plan ahead and save for larger purchases such as holidays. In the case of shared houses, this could also cover joint purchases for the house as a whole.
The Project’s Findings
Sam and Gerard want to have further conversations to encourage people with a learning disability to learn more about money and increase their independence in this area. Sam wants to look at ways to get people with a learning disability talking about money without feeling stressed and give them more of a sense of responsibility.
In April 2025, Sam presented his findings in a Financial Wellbeing Webinar. It was a huge success with over 60 people in attendance! Our joint report with Dosh and the University of Bristol has also been published, which you can read below. You can also watch back the webinar on Youtube incase you missed it.
Throughout the project, Sam says he has grown in confidence and wants to continue to do more research like this. This project particularly benefited from Sam’s lived experience. Allowing him to shape the research approach, check accessibility, and connect directly with participants meant they were comfortable sharing their views. We aim to apply this approach to our future project work. This will ensure we can share important insights about how we can make things like finances more accessible to people with a learning disability.