Methodology and evidence About the simulator Money Across Borders is an interactive training simulator designed to help practitioners, policymakers, researchers and financial-service professionals understand the financial decisions that refugees and migrants may face after arrival in the UK. The simulator follows Fadela, a fictional composite character whose circumstances draw on recurring themes identified through frontline financial-inclusion practice, casework, training delivery and published research. She is not based on one individual. Her story combines common pressures including insecure work, rent shortfalls, remittance obligations, family-reunion costs, formal and informal debt, limited access to mainstream financial services and reliance on trusted social networks. The purpose is not to test whether the player can make the “correct” financial decision. It is to show how apparently reasonable choices can produce different risks when money, time, information and support are limited. How the model works Players move through six linked rounds. Each round presents a financial decision with short-term and longer-term consequences. The simulator tracks several dimensions at the same time: * immediate cash and household stability * rent, bills and official UK debt * informal and community-based debt * family-reunion savings * remittance and overseas-family obligations * stress, confidence and financial control * access to trusted advice and formal support Choices made in one round influence the options and pressures that appear later. This reflects the fact that financial decisions are cumulative. A choice that solves an urgent problem today may reduce flexibility in the following month, while a decision that protects long-term stability may create immediate hardship elsewhere. The simulator also includes unexpected events, such as reduced working hours or urgent family requests, to reflect income volatility and the limited financial buffers experienced by many low-income households. Evidence base The simulator is grounded in the Diasporanomics framework on refugee and migrant personal finance. This framework considers how people manage money across settlement, transit and origin-country financial systems, including credit, debt, saving, remittances, household obligations and informal financial networks. Its core themes include: Multidimensional debt Refugee and migrant debt may include official UK liabilities such as rent, council tax and utility arrears; informal borrowing within the UK; journey or transit-related debt; and debts or financial obligations held by family members overseas. These categories often overlap and may be repaid in different currencies, through different relationships and under different levels of pressure. Remittances and transnational responsibility Money sent overseas is not treated simply as optional consumption. It may support food, housing, education, health care, debt repayment and crisis response. For some households, these commitments are prioritised alongside, or sometimes above, UK bills because the consequences of not sending money are shared across the wider family. Informal lending and social networks Friends, relatives, religious networks, diaspora groups and rotating savings circles may provide vital financial support where mainstream credit is inaccessible. These networks can strengthen resilience, but they can also create obligations, social pressure or exposure to exploitation where formal protections are weak. Financial exclusion Barriers may include difficulties proving identity or immigration status, limited credit history, unfamiliarity with UK systems, digital exclusion, language barriers, insecure immigration status and inconsistent recognition of valid documents. People may therefore navigate the financial system through trial and error or through advice from trusted community members. Income volatility and scarcity Casual work, reduced hours, delayed payments and fluctuating costs can make budgeting difficult even where someone is making careful decisions. Scarcity narrows the available options and can force households to prioritise immediate needs over longer-term goals. Family reunion as a financial process Family reunion can involve travel, documentation, legal, translation, accommodation and settlement costs. Delays can increase the total financial burden, while debt taken on before reunion can continue after family members arrive in the UK. Scenario assumptions The simulator uses simplified monthly figures to make the choices understandable and playable. These are scenario assumptions rather than a benefits calculator, debt-advice tool or prediction of an individual household’s finances. The model is designed to demonstrate relationships between: * income and essential expenditure * Local Housing Allowance and actual rent * earnings and Universal Credit * remittance commitments * formal and informal borrowing * savings for family reunion * access to advice and support Exact benefit rates, wage levels, rents, exchange rates, immigration costs and household circumstances change over time. The figures should therefore be interpreted as illustrative. Behavioural approach The simulator draws on behavioural-economics concepts including scarcity, present bias, loss aversion, social obligation, trust, mental accounting and limited attention. A player may decide to protect rent because the risk of homelessness feels immediate. Another may send money overseas because the consequences for family members are urgent and visible. Another may choose informal credit because it is faster, more familiar or more accessible than a formal product. The simulator does not assume that these decisions are irrational. Instead, it demonstrates that choices are shaped by the options available, the information a person holds, the risks they face and the people who depend on them. What the simulator does not do Money Across Borders is an educational and reflective tool. It does not: * provide personalised financial, legal or immigration advice * calculate entitlement to benefits * assess creditworthiness * predict the behaviour of all refugees or migrants * suggest that one fictional journey represents every community * replace direct consultation with people who have lived experience The simulator should be used alongside professional guidance, current policy information and engagement with refugee, migrant and diaspora communities. Ethical approach The scenario has been designed to avoid presenting hardship as entertainment. There is no perfect ending, no “failure” state and no assumption that financial difficulty results from poor individual choices. The central principle is: "You cannot personal-finance your way out of structural inequality." The simulator therefore places individual decision-making within the wider context of housing costs, insecure work, immigration systems, financial exclusion, family separation and unequal access to advice and financial products.