Nearly one in five young adults feel the financial education they received while at school was "wholly inadequate", research has found.

Some 19% of 18 to 24 year olds agreed with this statement, while nearly one in four (23%) also admitted they now lack confidence when it comes to managing their money, according to the survey from Scape Group.

The lack of confidence around finances tended to be higher among young adults than people across all age groups, with one in seven (14%) people generally saying they were not confident when it came to money issues.

Public sector-owned Scape Group is supporting credit unions to create initiatives in schools with the aim of helping children learn more about financial issues. It is supporting charity the Credit Union Foundation to enable more credit unions to work with their local schools.

The survey of nearly 700 people from across the UK also found that 59% described themselves as "self-taught" when it came to money matters and 34% said they had learned most of what they know from family and friends.

Only one in 10 (10%) of 18 to 24 years olds felt they had received an adequate or good level of financial education while at school.

Budgeting was the subject that people felt was most important when it came to children's financial education, followed by savings and pensions and financial terminology such as interest rates, APRs (annual percentage rates) and credit scores.

Financial education was introduced to England's national curriculum last year, bringing it in to line with the rest of the UK.

Annette Warne-Thomas, director of the Credit Union Foundation, said: "As well as serving around 1.6 million adult members across the UK, credit unions also have around 230,000 junior savers ... Credit unions play a key role in helping the next generation learn about money and develop a savings habit."