Free and flexible workshops for adults (19+)

Here at Colchester Institute we’ve developed some free workshops to help you budget with the cost of living and to support you with your finances.

Available through our Adult Skills Centres in Colchester, Braintree, Clacton and Dovercourt, new dates are now available for April.

Multiply - Free Workshops for Adults (19+)

Free Workshops for Adults (19+)

  • Energy Saving
  • Weekly household travel costs
  • Home maintenance
  • Utility bills
  • Income & expenditure
  • Banking
  • Borrowing Money
  • Introduction to Payslips, NI (National Insurance), Tax & Personal Allowance
  • Pensions
  • Filling out a timesheet
  • Additional Pay
  • Calculating holiday pay or extra income
  • Planning your travel
  • Clever ways to save on shopping
  • How to make meals, shop for them and cook them
  • Health conditions and diet
  • Healthy eating
What is Multiply?

Free and flexible workshops to help with the cost of living

In partnership with Essex County Council, Colchester Institute are delivering Multiply, which aims to support people aged 19 and over to improve their numeracy skills and gain maths qualifications up to GCSE grades 4 to 9 or A* to C.

Multiply seeks to address the crucial skills gap in Essex, where adult numeracy ranks lower when compared to the national average. It supports ECC’s broader ambition of helping Essex residents to increase their skills and to reduce barriers for disadvantaged groups.

Not a numbers person? Anxious about your maths skills?

Multiply will help you to feel more confident using numbers at work or in everyday life. Learning at a pace that suits you, Multiply offers short, flexible learning opportunities of around six hours.

Multiply aims to improve maths skills to support people at work and in their everyday lives, which includes:

  • helping people to budget and manage the increased cost of living
  • helping parents and carers support their children with their schoolwork
  • empowering people to access new employment
  • supporting people to progress at work

Multiply will include free and flexible courses for:

  • people with no qualifications
  • people who want tools to use in everyday life
  • people who want to build on their maths knowledge
  • people who desire a full qualification in maths up to GCSE level

Who is eligible for these workshops?

Anyone aged 19 and over

Classroom-based – April Workshop Dates

Dates are currently available in April for the following workshops:

WorkshopApril DatesAdult Skills CentreTime

Budgeting at home

Thursday 13thColchester12:30pm
Tuesday 18thBraintree9:30am
Thursday 13thClacton9:30am
Monday 3rdDovercourt9:30am
WorkshopApril DatesAdult Skills CentreTime

Budgeting for work

Friday 21stColchester9:30am
Tuesday 4thBraintree9:30am
Thursday 13thClacton12:30pm
Tuesday 11thDovercourt9:30am
WorkshopApril DatesAdult Skills CentreTime

Shopping and cooking

Friday 28thColchester9:30am
Tuesday 25thBraintree9:30am
Friday 14thClacton9.30am
Monday 17thDovercourt9:30am
Online Courses coming soon!

We are able to offer additional Multiply courses which are delivered online through the Skills Network. Available for adults (19+) across the UK until 2025, learners need to be aged 19+ and not have a current mathematics GCSE at grade C or equivalent, or functional skills. These courses are for beginners who want to build on their existing maths knowledge and can be studied at the learners own pace. Accessible on a phone, tablet, PC or laptop, there are also no formal assessments, and all of the courses and units are auto marked and developed by subject experts.

Course TitleDuration
Multiply Your Confidence in Numeracy4.5 hours
Multiply Your Confidence with Money8 hours
Multiply Your Confidence with Numbers7.5 hours
Multiply Your Confidence in Numbers in your Daily Life2.5 hours
Multiply Your Confidence in Numbers at Home2.5 hours
Multiply Your Confidence in Numbers at Work2.5 hours
Multiply Your Confidence with Budgeting, Saving and Loans2.5 hours
Multiply Your Confidence with Payslips and Bills2.5 hours
Multiply Your Confidence with Everyday Money Handling2.5 hours
Multiply Your Confidence in Everyday Numeracy To Support The Children And Young People In Your Life3 hours
Multiply Your Confidence in Advanced Numeracy To Support The Children And Young People In Your Life3 hours
Kim Palmer
I did all three workshops and found them all very useful, especially the advice regarding credit cards and savings which covered budgeting on limited finances. Also, the conversions in the shopping and cooking workshop addressed using grammes and ounces etc which gave me a better understanding of measurements. I learnt so much information on these workshops, the tutors were fantastic and there was a great atmosphere. I’d like one on travelling to places with advise on finding the cheapest costs.Kim Palmer
The budgeting, savings and loans aspects were the most useful, it may help me in the future. Learning to budget will help me manage my money better. The workshop made me use parts of my brain I’d forgotten about and the tutor was helpfulTeresa Cansdale

Contact Us

01206 712825
01206 814292
Email: ncs@colchester.ac.uk