Here, we believe having good number skills is super important for everyday life. Whether it's managing money, doing well in your education programme, or being successful at work - being confident with numbers really helps. We're here to help you improve your number skills and feel more self-assured. 

We are always looking for resources and tips to help, and have found a website with tools that are easy to use and designed for different ways of learning. They have got interactive exercises, helpful tutorials, and practical activities to make learning about numbers fun and easy. Join us in building up your skills and confidence with numbers – let's get started on this learning journey together!

National Numeracy was established as an independent charity in 2012 to help raise low levels of numeracy among both adults and children and to promote the importance of everyday maths skills.

We challenge negative attitudes, influence public policy and offer practical ways to help adults and children improve their numeracy.

By working with communities, employers and teachers, we want to enable everyone across the UK to be confident and competent with using numbers and data, so they can make good decisions in their daily lives.

Our approach

We are working towards our aim in two main ways:

Raising awareness about poor numeracy levels which exist in the UK, how numeracy differs from mathematics, and promoting the recognition that everyone can improve through campaigns such as National Numeracy Day.

Improving numeracy - more than 500,000 people have registered to check and improve their maths skills with the National Numeracy Challenge, giving them a space to assess and learn at their own pace.

Our report 'Essentials of Numeracy: a new approach', published in summer 2017, provides an overview of the issue; why things aren’t working and our proposed solutions.

Our strategy

As a nation, our numeracy levels are significantly below average for developed countries which costs the UK economy millions of pounds in unemployment, poor health, debt and the skills gap. Low confidence and competence with numbers disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities, with anxiety about numbers often passed on from generation to generation.  

To stop this cycle and become an engine of social mobility, our focus is on encouraging people in communities where the need is greatest to take that first step. By breaking down confidence barriers and encouraging a growth mindset, we empower people to learn – whether to help with formal qualifications, career prospects, family life or financial well-being. 

Over the past 10 years, we have used data to evaluate and improve how numeracy is understood, valued and developed. As such, we’ve become the UK’s ‘go-to’ numeracy experts, contributed to Government policy and attracted funding from key partners which is making our work scalable and sustainable.

With their support, we now run a growing suite of programmes, listed below. In addition to our campaigns, these reach parents, carers and schools; employers and employees; communities and individuals – work that is amplified by our much-valued ambassadors. 

• Training and workshops 

• Family Maths Toolkit 

• National Numeracy Challenge

By the end of 2023, we aim to have achieved over 2.7 million engagements with people to improve their numeracy (including 1,000,000 engagements annually by 2023).

Our values

Our “Core Four” deeply held values define what’s important to us. They guide our actions, drive our decision-making, and exemplify how we serve individuals and communities.   

Community commitment: We put people first. We give 100% to our people, partners and communities.   

Trusted experts: We are the UK’s numeracy experts. We use data and evidence to offer credible, trusted insight.  

Empowered futures: We empower people for positive change. We listen, build confidence and enable people to gain greater control over their futures.  

Always learning: We believe change can happen. We are persistent and passionate in supporting people, partners and communities to accomplish their goals.

If you are looking for helpful resources to change and improve your number habits - try these!