How cracking the maths puzzle can save you money and boost your confidence

However, you feel about maths and numbers you are not alone. Whether you feel good about them or the very thought of them fills you with dread, today – National Numeracy Day, is a great opportunity to find out how to boost your confidence with numbers and build a brighter future for you and your family.

We use numbers in every aspect of our lives – at work, going shopping, helping children with homework, paying bills, keeping healthy, and making sense of the news. It’s not all algebra and fractions as we may have been led to believe at school. Understanding measurements for recipes and being able to budget can help us get the best out of life and make good choices.

Research shows that good numeracy is your best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health. Whatever your age and your experience of maths at school, everyone can benefit from improving their numeracy skills. And to help with this, the government has recently launched Multiply, a new programme to give adults access to free numeracy courses, build their confidence and gain qualifications.

Across the West Midlands Combined Authority, an estimated 440,000 adults have low numeracy skills and could substantially benefit from taking part in the programme. Given around two-thirds of these people are either employed or looking for work, it’s really important that Multiply courses are designed to fit around work and wider commitments. It’s important too that numeracy learning is helpful and relevant to everyday life, and that learners are well-supported to succeed and gain confidence.

To achieve this, WMCA is partnering with Local Authorities, Colleges, Jobcentres, businesses and community organisations to offer residents a wide range of flexible opportunities to get involved. For example:

People are learning how to make pizzas for their friends and family, with increased confidence in imperial and metric measurements and working out the cost of ingredients on the ‘Cooking Counts’ course, taught in a training restaurant in Coventry.

Parents in Wolverhampton are developing their maths skills at a number of primary schools including Niksham and St Stephen’s which will help them better support their child’s education.

Job seekers and low-paid workers are learning how to create affordable meals, manage their food budget and save energy with the support of community organisations across Walsall - all critical skills given the rising cost of living.

Across Dudley, people on zero-hours contracts or other low-paid work are developing the numeracy skills needed to find good jobs and progress at work thanks to a range of courses held in libraries, council buildings and community centres.

The Women’s Hospital in Birmingham, along with many other employers, are offering courses in and around the workplace, to support staff to develop the skills needed to take that next step up the career ladder.

And across the region as a whole, training providers are offering a range of online and face-to-face courses, specifically for people who work in, or want to work in, different parts of the economy – including ‘numeracy for health and social care’, ‘numeracy for warehousing’, ‘numeracy for logistics’ and ‘numeracy for hospitality’.

You can find out more about the wide range of numeracy courses on offer in your area here. National Numeracy Day is a great time to take that first step in boosting your confidence and building a better future. Why not take a look now?

Written by: Fiona Aldridge - Head of Insight & Intelligence