EdTechLab
Institutional work Live · finreadylab.org

WorkReady Finance: turning academic finance expertise into a platform people use on their phones.

UWE Bristol's Accounting & Finance team set out to help jobseekers, returners and adult learners build practical money confidence. EdTechLab designed, engineered and hosts the platform: scenario games learners play without an account, tools for the academics who own the content, and a live console for the facilitators who run the workshops.

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Client
UWE Bristol, Bristol Business School, Department of Accounting & Finance
Programme
UWE Bristol Knowledge Exchange project, funded through the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF)
Our role
Product and experience design, full-stack engineering, deployment, hosting and support. EdTechLab acts as data processor.
Content and ownership
Four UWE academics lead and author the modules. UWE Bristol owns the platform.
Status
In production since 1 June 2026; in pilot with community partners
Publication
This case study is published with UWE Bristol's approval
finreadylab.org
The WorkReady Finance homepage: 'Build financial confidence through real-world scenarios, at your own pace', with Start learning and Partner with us buttons and a preview of the four modules.
WorkReady Finance on a phone, showing no login, free, five minutes per scenario.

4 × 4

learning modules, each with four real-world topics

4

interactive experiences, from a business simulation to a case game

<12 weeks

from first commit (11 March 2026) to production (1 June 2026)

1,100+

automated frontend and backend tests at last recorded run

The challenge

Practical money skills matter most at the moments they are least taught.

People moving from benefits into work, returning after a break or starting out on their own face payslips, tax codes, irregular income and scams, usually without accessible ways to practise. The project team's starting point: around six million people in Britain claim out-of-work benefits.

The institution

Bristol Business School's Accounting & Finance department.

A knowledge-exchange project funded through the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), in which four UWE academics each lead a module in their own field (Accounting, Finance, Investment and FinTech in Practice), working with community organisations across Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

The brief

Take an academic prototype to a platform real people can use.

The team had an early prototype and strong content ideas. They needed a production platform that learners could use on any phone without signing up, that academics could author and control themselves, that facilitators could run in a room, and that met UWE's data-protection expectations.

Our role

Everything between the academic idea and a platform in production.

UWE's academics own the subject matter, write and review every scenario, and lead the workshops and partnerships. EdTechLab is responsible for the product design, the engineering and the running service.

  • Experience architecture

    Separate learner, module-lead, facilitator and admin journeys, each designed for its users.

  • Learning interaction and game design

    Scenario, simulation and case-game mechanics that turn finance concepts into decisions.

  • Full-stack engineering

    Frontend, game engines, API, database design and realtime sessions.

  • Authoring and facilitator tooling

    Tools that let academics shape and release content, and facilitators run a room.

  • Privacy, security and accessibility

    Anonymous learning, consent and erasure flows, row-level security, accessibility testing.

  • Deployment, hosting and support

    Production hosting, monitoring, releases and guides for authors, facilitators and developers.

What we built

From academic expertise to learner decisions to evidence.

Real screens from the platform, in the order the system works.

  1. 01 · ACADEMIC EXPERTISE

    Module leads design the learner journey themselves.

    A module-lead dashboard lets each academic set up a scenario step by step: run structure, funding, investment, trading pressure, feedback, and review and release. They can preview exactly what learners will see before releasing a version.

    Module lead dashboard · Scenarios
    Module lead dashboard with scenario, analytics and sessions tabs, three business scenarios (coffee shop, cleaning company, personalised gifts) and a seven-step control to design the learner journey.
  2. Ledger Lab · The Margin Mystery
    Ledger Lab case file 'The Margin Mystery': a coffee shop whose bank balance keeps shrinking, with seven chapters from cost behaviour to reading two-page accounts.

    02 · STRUCTURED LEARNING

    Curriculum becomes a case to solve.

    Ledger Lab turns management accounting into a cinematic case game. Learners work through chapters on cost behaviour, contribution, break-even, pricing and cash flow, with a case file, key figures and a calculator to hand.

  3. 03 · INTERACTIVE SCENARIO

    Learners run a business, not a quiz.

    In the SME Finance Game, learners open a coffee shop, cleaning company or gift business. They choose a location on a UK map built from real cost data across 121 postcode areas, raise funding and decide what to buy.

    SME Finance Game · Mission briefing
    Mission briefing: 'You are opening a coffee shop', with the business, simulation length, difficulty and the steps learners will decide, from location and funding to spending.
  4. SME Finance Game · Stage 2 of 3
    Spending decision: 'What should the business buy?', with concept explainers on opportunity cost, margins and break-even, a till showing money spent and the reserve left, and a money-so-far panel.

    04 · LEARNER DECISIONS

    Every choice moves real numbers.

    A deterministic money engine tracks cash, repayments, ownership and risk as learners decide. Short explainers sit beside each decision, so the concept is there at the moment it matters.

  5. 05 · CONSEQUENCES AND FEEDBACK

    Risk events test the plan, then show what it set in motion.

    Demand drops, a large order arrives, costs change. Learners respond, explain their reasoning in a sentence, and see the consequences for cash, debt and repayments.

    SME Finance Game · What could go wrong?
    Risk event: customer demand is 25% lower than expected. Learners choose between using the emergency cash, local marketing, a lower-priced offer or a short-term loan, each with its trade-off shown.
  6. Ledger Lab · Case review
    Ledger Lab case review showing an overall score, mastery by area (costing, planning and control, pricing and value, reporting and position), badges earned and a downloadable case report.

    06 · REVIEW AND EVIDENCE

    Learners see what they mastered; the team gets usable data.

    Case reviews break results down by area and produce a case report learners can keep. Behind the scenes, write-once attempt records and pre and post confidence measures give the project clean evidence to evaluate.

  7. 07 · FACILITATOR EXPERIENCE

    Workshops run from a live console, with no preparation needed.

    Facilitators issue short access codes, watch cohort progress update live, see which learners are stuck, record observations and run a debrief, whether the session is in a library, a community centre or a lecture theatre.

    finreadylab.org · For facilitators
    The facilitator section of WorkReady Finance: run financial workshops with zero preparation, with live session monitoring, progress across a group, content flagging and stage-gate overrides.

What learners experience

Designed for people who would never sign up for a course.

  • No account, no install and no cost: a short code from a facilitator, or straight in from the homepage
  • Scenarios of around five minutes, built for any phone and usable in a workshop or alone
  • Plain English, read-aloud and dyslexia-friendly options, and a high-contrast mode
  • Decisions with consequences, not definitions: payslips, budgets, funding, scams and investment choices
  • Progress, badges and a certificate, with an optional PIN to pick up where they left off
  • An optional 3D layer, with a 2D fallback so nobody is left out

Institutional requirements

What shaped the design.

Academic ownership
Academics author, preview and release content themselves, so the subject experts keep control of accuracy and pacing.
Data protection
UWE Bristol is data controller and EdTechLab data processor. Learners stay anonymous, data is hosted in London, row-level security covers every table, and consent and erasure are built in.
Accessibility
Built against a WCAG 2.2 AA checklist with automated accessibility tests, for audiences that include adult and ESOL learners.
Workshop reality
Access codes, QR joining, a presenter view and stuck-learner signals, because community sessions rarely have an IT technician in the room.
Evaluation
Pre and post confidence measures, consent records and write-once attempt data, so a knowledge-exchange project can evidence what happened.

Delivery

From concept to something people could use, then better every few weeks.

  1. MARCH 2026

    Engagement begins

    Discovery with the academic team; first commit on 11 March.

  2. 1 JUNE 2026

    In production

    finreadylab.org goes live; Investment Foundations follows on 9 June.

  3. 2 AND 4 JULY 2026

    First pilot workshops

    At Bristol Business School, Frenchay, and at Brabazon, with jobseekers, women returning to work and small-business owners.

  4. JULY 2026

    New experiences ship

    MoneyFlow (6–7 July) and the Ledger Lab case game (20 July) join the platform.

Media coverage

The first pilot workshops, in pictures.

WorkReady Finance in use at the two pilot workshops in July 2026, and UWE Bristol's own account of them.

Four people smiling in front of a projection of the WorkReady Finance homepage.
The WorkReady Finance homepage on the big screenFirst pilot workshop · 2 July 2026
A presenter at a lectern beside a projected explainer on funding a business from your own savings.
Walking the room through a funding decision2 July 2026
A presenter speaking to a seated audience in front of a projected slide.
Presenting at the first pilot workshop2 July 2026
A presenter explaining a point in front of a projected learning scenario.
In discussion at the first pilot workshop2 July 2026
Four people in conversation over coffee.
Conversations at the second pilot workshopBrabazon · 4 July 2026

UWE BRISTOL · GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY RESEARCH GROUP · JULY 2026

Piloting WorkReady Finance: gamified workshops bring money confidence to Bristol communities

UWE's account of the two pilot sessions with jobseekers, women returning to work and small-business owners.

Read the article on UWE Bristol's blog (opens in a new tab)

Technology

An architecture built for anonymous learners and accountable data.

A progressive web app backed by a London-hosted Postgres database, with realtime channels for live workshops and server-side checks on every assessed attempt.

Automated tests
1,100+
Database migrations
100

Experiences

Learner appMobile-first PWA, no account
Module-lead studioDesign, preview, release
Facilitator consoleLive cohort, debrief
AdminCodes, cohorts, operations

Application

Game enginesSME Finance, Ledger Lab, MoneyFlow, Investment
Deterministic money engineConsistent, testable consequences
API at the edgeToken auth, schema validation, rate limits
Certificates and monitoringDedicated services

Data

Postgres, LondonRow-level security on every table
RealtimeLive workshop sessions
AuthAnonymous learners, optional PIN
EvidenceConsent, surveys, write-once attempts

Evidence

Public, verifiable, and in use.

  • The live platform credits the work

    Every page of finreadylab.org carries the line "Developed by EdTechLab for UWE Bristol Business School", and its privacy notice names EdTechLab as data processor.

    finreadylab.org (opens in a new tab)

  • UWE reported the first pilot workshops

    UWE's Governance and Accountability Research Group described the July workshops, run with "no slides, no lecture, no personal details collected".

    Read UWE's write-up (opens in a new tab)

  • Next, in UWE's words

    UWE has said the platform will also be embedded in teaching across modules at Bristol Business School.

Outcome

What exists because of the work.

  • A live, UWE-branded learning platform in pilot with community partners
  • Four modules and sixteen topics, authored and released by UWE academics
  • Four interactive learning experiences, from business simulation to case game
  • A facilitator console that makes workshops possible without specialist support
  • Evaluation instrumentation ready for the project to evidence its impact

Impact evaluation belongs to the UWE project team. The platform gives them the data to do it.

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