Evaluation of the Financial Consumer Rights Council - dignity and debt: financial difficulty and getting older initiative

The findings of this evaluation essentially provide a small amount of evidence that financial counselling can work and produce formal and positive outcomes. However, a significant number of potential risks need to be overcome to establish a flourishing, fairly distributed and well recognised and respected financial counselling service in the aged care space. What is not in contention is that financial counselling will offer something tangible to Older Persons in hardship in the future and that evidence suggests that the expansion of the financial counselling role will greatly benefit Older Persons in a variety of social ways. The need for safe, secure and stable support platforms to assess and manage any financial hardship and debt issues of this Older Person population is crucial, and provision of quality advice and support from financial counselling that is accessible to the Older Person population will thus be a key element in maintaining wellbeing, quality of life and positive ageing for this population.