The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced plans to award a £400,000 funding boost for schemes that help savers take stock of their health, skills and wealth for later life planning, as part of a government trial.

The new funding will be given to a total of ten local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), each of which could receive up to £40,000 to develop, implement, and trial mid-life MOTs, and help savers build their future financial resilience.

In particular, the trials are expected to help DWP understand the actions individuals take as a result of undertaking the mid-life MOT, as well as the user needs among those most at risk of experiencing long-term unemployment.

They are also expected to help understand the effectiveness of using local delivery channels and how these can complement the Money and Pensions Service (Maps), the National Careers Service (NCS), and Public Health England (PHE) in supporting later life planning.

Commenting on the plans, Pensions Minister, Guy Opperman, said: “It’s no secret I am a huge fan of this idea.

“While we started work on this before the pandemic, the last twelve months have bought people’s financial resilience into sharp focus – making a mid-life MOT a timely exercise for many.

“And it’s not just about retirement savings but also about enabling people to enjoy a fuller working life by helping them understand the skills they will need to learn along the way.”

The ten LEPs receiving the grants are: Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire and Greater Birmingham and Solihull; Heart of the South West; Humber; North East; New Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk); Worcestershire; Cornwall and Isles of Scilly; Cambridge and Peterborough; Dorset; Greater Manchester.

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