Broker says a government-led school syllabus backed by mortgage advisers could close the first-time buyer knowledge gap
A mortgage broker with years of experience working with first-time buyers is calling on the government to lead a formal education programme in schools, arguing that the industry's own efforts to fill the knowledge gap are too fragmented and too promotional to make a lasting difference.
Paul Hampton (pictured top), owner and mortgage consultant at Approved Mortgage Solutions in Sunderland, told Mortgage Introducer the content reaching young people through social media falls well short of what is needed.
"On TikTok, Facebook and things like that, there's lots of education about the fact that you can do it, but it's very disjointed," he said. "It's not so much about the education side, it's about mortgage brokers trying to get leads, so it's more promotional than educational."
Hampton's concern is not simply about awareness. He argues that the absence of structured financial education in schools creates practical consequences that he encounters regularly in his work, with clients arriving with savings in the wrong accounts, Lifetime ISAs (LISAs) opened too recently to use, and fundamental misunderstandings about how affordability is assessed.
A gap that has persisted for decades
Hampton said the education gap is not a recent development. For much of his career, clients simply did not ask questions beyond the basics. "You could literally say to a client, you're buying a house for £100,000, you're putting in a £10,000 deposit, your mortgage payment's going to be £550 for the next two years, and then I'll come back and see you. That's all people wanted to know."
That picture has now changed. "There's a lot more need for information now. People are more clued up, they want more information, they want to understand things, which is a really good thing," Hampton said. But the structures for delivering that understanding have not kept pace. "Nobody teaches you how to buy a house. There's nowhere in your formal education for that."
The consequences are tangible. Hampton described clients arriving with a LISA that had not been open for 12 months, unaware that accessing it early would mean losing the government bonus and a portion of their savings. Others hold substantial sums outside a Help to Buy or Lifetime ISA altogether. "There's loads of education that needs to be done just about saving for your deposit," he said. "If you speak to a mortgage broker as soon as you possibly can, you'll have a good indication as to what you can do now. You'll have a plan going forward."
Why broker fees add to the fear
Hampton also identified a practical barrier that stops many first-time buyers from seeking professional advice at all – the perception of upfront broker fees. "If you've got on your regulatory statement that you charge £500, and somebody thinks they can't get a mortgage, they're not even going to engage," he said. "They're going to think, I'm saving for a deposit, they're going to charge us £500 just to see if I can get a mortgage to start with. That's money I can't afford."
The solution, he argued, is clearer communication about when fees actually apply, alongside a broader cultural shift towards education over promotion. "There needs to be a lot more educational posts rather than promotional marketing," he said. Brokers already adopting education-led approaches to engaging first-time buyers are finding that earlier interaction pays off commercially as well as for clients.
Who should lead the change
Hampton's proposed solution goes beyond anything the industry can deliver alone. He wants the government to design a mortgage syllabus for schools, with brokers providing the practical expertise to back up delivery by teachers. "I think if the government came up with a syllabus as to, this is what you should learn at school – deposits, early repayment charges, types of valuations – and then maybe get a teacher to deliver it with a mortgage adviser backing it up, I think that would be the best thing," he said.
He is clear on why consistency requires government involvement rather than leaving it to individual firms or lenders. "I think the syllabus has to be led by the government. Otherwise, it'll be massively inconsistent. And obviously anybody we do training for will be immaculately prepared, but other people might not be."
The call echoes a longstanding debate in the industry. A study by Boon Brokers previously found that 97% of first-time buyers did not learn about mortgages at school, prompting calls for a financial studies GCSE to be added to the national curriculum.
Hampton's proposal adds a practical dimension – broker-backed delivery against a government-set framework – and sits within a broader conversation about whether mortgages should be taught in school that the industry has been having for some time. Analysis of how the housing ladder is shifting in 2026 makes clear that structural barriers to first-time buyer access go well beyond product availability.
Hampton said he would willingly invest his own time in school visits, even without immediate commercial return. "It's time invested for me for the future," he said. "Education while you're at school would make you a better first-time buyer when you become old enough. I think that would resolve most issues."
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