A new partnership embeds Focus's digital client engagement tools directly within Funkled's free learning platform as Funkled launches a 30-day content programme to close the UK's advice gap

YORK, United Kingdom and LEAMINGTON SPA, United Kingdom, July 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Financial education platform Funkled has partnered with Focus, the UK advice technology provider, to combine free, jargon-free financial education with institutional-grade planning tools, giving advisers, employers and providers a new route to more engaged, better-prepared clients.

Under the partnership, Focus's digital client engagement (DCE) tools, technology already used by advice firms, banks and building societies across the UK, are embedded directly within Funkled's learning journeys. Every module Funkled publishes, whether on investing, borrowing or budgeting, now ends with a linked planning tool: a savings or investment goal-setter, a debt analysis tool, or a household budget calculator, enabling users to act on what they've just learned rather than leaving with only half an idea.

The partnership marks Funkled's most ambitious content push to date. Starting on 1st August, the platform will release a new learning module daily for 30 days and a new podcast episode daily for 15 days, covering topics from compound interest and pensions to bereavement and lasting power of attorney. The content is being produced with a broad team of collaborators including established industry names such as Oxford Risk, Invesco, Zurich and Alexander Hall, alongside subject specialists like Pension Pie, APS Legal, and Cascade Cash Management.

Funkled was founded by Dan Russell, who has spent more than 20 years working with product manufacturers, technology providers, life companies, investment managers and financial intermediaries. He argues that the UK's stalled advice market is not primarily a regulatory or technology problem, but an educational one: just 8.7% of UK adults currently take financial advice, only 17% hold a stocks and shares ISA, eight million working people have no pension, and seven million never shop around for insurance.

For advisers, employee-benefit consultants and providers, the partnership offers a white-label route to reach and warm up prospective clients before they even pick up the phone. Employers will be able to design their own branded version of the content as part of workplace benefits programmes, while advice firms will be able to give clients, prospective clients or clients' family members structured access to both the learning content and the planning tools behind it.

Funkled is also establishing an external advisory board to guide the platform's development, including Focus's Mike Hearfield and former Beverley Building Society chief executive Karl Elliott, and founder of GB Bank and Cascade Dr Emma Black.

Dan Russell, Founder of Funkled, said: “The biggest barrier to growth in UK financial services isn't regulation, and it isn’t AI; it's the fact that most consumers simply don't understand what we're talking about. Giving people knowledge on its own is pointless if they've nowhere to put it into practice, and giving them tools on their own is pointless if they don't know why they need them. Partnering with Focus lets us close that gap in one place, for far more people than we could reach on our own.”

Dave Upton of Focus said: “We've spent years building tools that enable advice firms to deliver planning to far more clients, but much of that capability has, until now, reached people only once they're already talking to an adviser. Funkled gives us a way to put the same institutional-grade tools in front of people much earlier in their journey, and to bring them to advisers and employers who are already knowledgeable and ready to engage, rather than relying on occasional, manual referrals.”

The Focus tools are already live on Funkled's platform, and both organisations plan to expand the range of tools and content available as the partnership develops.

About Funkled

Funkled is a free, jargon-free financial education platform on a mission to improve the financial capability of millions of people across the UK. Founded in 2025 by Dan Russell, it delivers learning through short-form videos, e-books, quizzes, podcasts and social content. It pairs this with practical planning tools and partners with leading financial services brands to ensure its content remains accurate and independent. Funkled does not provide regulated financial advice. www.funkled.com

About Focus

Focus is an award-winning provider of advice technology, delivering transformational automation for financial advice firms, consolidators, building societies and platforms. Its API-first, Azure-native platform enables scalable, compliant and client-centric advice journeys across protection, pensions and investments.

Focus's technology is used by leading organisations, including NFU Mutual, Skipton, abrdn, Santander and Bank of Ireland. Founded in 1993, Focus brings together more than 30 years of financial advice expertise and a design-led development practice to deliver world-class digital solutions for the UK and Irish markets.

Media contact

Kerry Perks
Marketing Director, Focus
Kerry.perks@focusadvice.tech

Images available on request: founder headshot and screenshots of the Funkled planning tools.

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