BARCLAYS – WRITTEN EVIDENCE (YUN0060)

Youth Unemployment Committee inquiry

INTRODUCTION

Barclays is a transatlantic consumer and wholesale bank with global reach, offering products and services across personal, corporate and investment banking, credit cards and wealth management, with a strong presence in our two home markets of the UK and the US. With over 325 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 40 countries and employs approximately 83,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide.

In addition to this, Barclays helps thousands of people every year to develop their employability skills, gain confidence and increase their motivation. We support individuals of all ages, abilities and experiences into employment and help recruiting corporates to fill entry-level roles. It is vital that multi-generational workers can continue developing their skills throughout their careers and have access to employment support that is comparable to those starting out in their careers. Tackling the UK employability skills gap is crucial, especially with the ever-changing skills required for the future world of work.

Since 2013, the Barclays LifeSkills programme has been supporting youth employment by raising the confidence, motivation and aspirations of millions of young people who are making the move from education into work. What started as an ambition to help combat rising youth unemployment has today supported over 13 million people and has had registration from over 85% of schools. LifeSkills looks to help young people prepare for the world of work by equipping them with core transferable skill such as CV writing, interview skills, problem solving, resilience, communication and leadership. In 2019, the programme was extended to the whole of the UK workforce and across all ages.

In addition, Barclays has committed to placing 250,000 people into work globally by 2022. In the UK, our employability programme provides people that face barriers to work with job-ready skills and connects them to businesses that are recruiting, including Barclays’ clients and suppliers. Together with a selection of employability partners (including Catch22 and The Prince’s Trust), since 2016 we have helped to place >3,000 people into work across >1,000 businesses – including the Co-op, Nando’s and BUPA. These jobseekers can face a number of barriers including a lack of experience, mental-ill health, caring responsibilities, and fewer educational qualifications to name a few.

Given the challenges COVID-19 presents, unemployment and especially youth unemployment is rising again – young workers under 25 account for around 60% of the UK job losses over the last year. The prospect for jobs and growth are expected to improve, however supporting the workforce, especially young people, needs to be a priority.

The experience and knowledge we have gained through running our employability programmes shows that there are still gaps in both the core transferable and technical skills development of young people leaving education and entering employment. It is now more important than ever that young people are equipped with the right experience and skills necessary to enter the workforce. Without this, many young people face being left behind.

 

CHALLENGES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES

Challenges for Young People

As young people return to the education environment after learning at home, there is a danger that career and employability skills development and work experience may take a back seat. This could ultimately mean that a whole generation will miss out on preparation for their first job. Over the last year, many schools have paused careers and employability provision, including careers weeks and events, face to face interactions and interview practice with employers (LifeSkills Educator Research, July 2020).

Furthermore, access to quality work experience for young people has always been a challenge and our research shows that during the pandemic the majority of work experience opportunities have been paused or cancelled.  LifeSkills believes that as a country, we need to look at new, more innovative ways of providing these opportunities.

We know how important employer interaction and careers guidance can be for young people. It can often be the difference between finding employment or leaving school without a job. Students who gain four quality employer interactions at school are 86% less likely to become NEET and over 90% of teachers believe that employer engagement can have an impact on the academic achievement of pupils (Education and Employers research, in partnership with LifeSkills).

Whilst delivering the LifeSkills programme at significant scale and impact, we are also uncovering and helping to tackle the deeper issues and challenges that young people in the UK face.  Reports have persistently shown that disadvantaged children are behind their more advantaged peers. This needs to be addressed and we need to ensure that this gap does not continue to widen further post pandemic. We work with our charity partners to ensure that we can continue to provide tailored and impactful interventions in schools and colleges to help build the skills and confidence of those young people who need support the most.  We have developed an employability skills model that can build the confidence of young people and support those who are or at risk of not being in education, employment or training. 

For example, in Bury we have been providing a tailored and intensive programme of LifeSkills activity to cohorts of young people in care and those underperforming in education. Our evaluation shows improvements in aspiration and confidence, as well as an improved understanding of skills and what employers are looking for and a readiness to make future career decisions.

Challenge for Businesses

There have been numerous reports from business’ stating that young people are not prepared for the world of work on leaving education. A 2018 report from LifeSkills titled ‘How employable is the UK?’ found that only 41 per cent of Gen Z (16-24 year olds) could demonstrate seven of the core transferable employability skills needed for the future world of work: proactivity, adaptability, leadership, creativity, resilience, communication and problem solving. There were also high levels of over confidence in younger respondents, showing the need for ongoing support in building skills. 

The study also highlighted that traditional sources of these skills, like in-work training and formal education, are not currently set-up to tackle the employability skills gap. Despite the majority (79 per cent) of UK employers rating employability skills as important to their industry in the next ten years, a third (34 per cent) did not plan to offer any training in the near future. Teachers also revealed that 22 per cent do not think their institution is effective in developing employability skills for pupils, with just 6 per cent feeling that their students are fully prepared with these skills when leaving the school gates.

Core, transferable, employability skills are crucial to preparing the UK for a world of work where we are unable to accurately predict what the jobs of the future will look like and what technical skills will be needed. These are the skills humans are best at – they cannot be replicated by robots and will become even more valuable in the future, as global patterns of work change and automation, freelance working patterns and the average working age all increase.

The report highlights that if we are to be successful in addressing the employability skills gap, educators, businesses and the Government must work more closely together. There is a clear need to raise awareness of the importance of these skills and increase the support available to people of all ages – ultimately helping the UK to thrive.

In April this year, we released a report with the British Chamber of Commerce titled, ‘The Next Normal: Futureproofing the Workforce for a Post-Pandemic World’. This report showed that:

• Businesses are keen to grab hold of opportunities for greater productivity.
• Skills and capabilities necessary for workforces to thrive will be different post-pandemic.
• The capability to adapt to shifting training priorities and new ways of working across the board will be a key strength for any organisation, particularly to help the next generation enter the changing workplace.
• There is a need to implement workplace training from the outset – from innovation, mental health and wellbeing through to digital skills.
• Digital capability of employees will be increasingly important to a business’s competitiveness and success.

Another challenge for employers wishing to address skills gaps is that there is often a cost associated which can act as a barrier. For example, pre-employment training programmes delivered by a charity to businesses will often come at a cost. Employers can also often be put off from these programmes as it takes valuable time and resources away from work to prepare individual young people for roles through specific pre-employment training.

In addition to this, we found that prior to the pandemic, retaining young people in certain sectors such as hospitality, leisure and healthcare could be a challenge - as young people do not always associate these sectors as areas in which you can build a career and progress. This can be due to these sectors not frequently being spoken about whilst in education as a career pathway and because the entry level roles often having a lower wage entry point.

As we move out of the pandemic, more needs to be done to show young people where the opportunities exist both in terms of local labour markets and across thriving industries and the skills that will be needed.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Careers & Skills Education

As stated above, understandably there must be a significant catch up on academic subjects as young people settle back into school. Nevertheless, careers guidance and employability skills in secondary education should not take a back seat.

The Government introduced Careers Leaders into every school to support the delivery of career advice and guidance. We see this as a positive development that should continue. However, we believe that taking a “whole school” approach across the country would achieve the best results with the most impact.

It is also critical that teachers share responsibility for delivering quality careers advice by embedding employability into their lessons, including core subjects, with the full backing of the school’s leadership team.

To support a whole school approach, LifeSkills teacher facing content is linked to the curriculum, making it easier for teachers to embed skills development into lessons as well as quick fire activities. The programme has also devised an award for educational institutions who can demonstrate that they’re taking a whole school approach to employability; going above and beyond to prepare their young people for the world of work. This award can then live on the school’s website and be hung in their foyer.

Barclays LifeSkills has also partnered with the tes institute to develop a free online training programme for all educators, helping them to develop a strategy and embed employability skills across the curriculum.

The programme additionally partners with Teach First on the Careers Leader programme to ensure that careers and employability are embedded into the curriculum in the training of educators who are working in schools and especially in poorer communities with the most disadvantaged children.

This Teach First Careers Leader Programme helps to train 100 careers leaders who oversee the careers information, advice, guidance and education of 75,000 young people over 2021. Within this programme the LifeSkills module is voted as the top module as it gives them the practical help to drive the agenda in their school communities.

In our LifeSkills Educator Research (2020), teachers told us that our programme supports learning particularly in these challenging times, as our resources target the right areas, providing the knowledge, skills and experiences that students need. Many of our resources are designed to be engaging yet offer the same inputs as can be provided by employers face-to-face or be experienced in the workplace

Of the educators engaged with the programme, LifeSkills has supported in the following ways:

• 75% reported an impact on teacher knowledge and expertise (employability skills, money management and/or careers education).
• 64% reported an impact on their institution’s ability to deliver a quality employability or career education curriculum.
• 64% reported an impact on raising the profile of employability skills within their institution.

We understand the pressure on teachers. We therefore believe that much more can be done to support them, ensuring that employability skills are part of the curriculum. This includes:

• Extra time carved out for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) sessions. This gives existing teachers time to understand the future world of work and the employability skills needed as well as aiding them in supporting Careers Leaders in embedding employability education throughout the curriculum. 
• Every new teacher entering the education system starting their career with the knowledge and understanding of how to embed employability education into their teaching. This should be added into teacher training programmes, as LifeSkills has done with the tes Institute programme, giving any level of educator the tools they need to embed effective employability provision throughout the curriculum.  This helps students prepare for jobs which may not even exist yet, keeping focus on strategies to build the employability skills which will work across jobs and sectors.
• Strengthening the links between education and business, which is vital for helping and inspiring young people. Business can provide information on what to teach and tools to help students build skills, as well as offering the opportunities to put learning into context through work experience and other face to face interventions. More visits to workplaces, even more work experience and an insight into work through practical activities and challenges would be invaluable.
• A scaled level of commitment from a business depending on the time and resource available. A work taster day can be as valuable as a two-week work experience as it provides a much-needed reality check. It enables students to meet professionals in different careers and gain insights into education pathways and helps young people to understand transferable skills. The smallest intervention can make a huge difference for a young person, boosting their self-confidence, resilience and understanding
• Providing insight to the students also helps educators, who are crying out for more support with the ever-changing working environment. They need information about employers’ needs and labour market trends to help prepare their students for working life.

Work Experience

Work experience for young people has always been a challenge.  However it is vital in helping them to get into the workplace and as previously mentioned, our educator research shows that during the pandemic work experience has been paused or cancelled. We need to look at new, more innovative ways of providing these opportunities. 

LifeSkills is offering work experience online during the summer holidays in 2021 via the Springpod online platform, used by Siemens, Vodafone and others. The programme will be open to 500 young people from Springpod’s user base in the UK, who are disproportionately from financially disadvantaged backgrounds and ethnic minorities. The programme will use LifeSkills resources and speakers from Barclays throughout. It aims to bring working at Barclays to life, as well as supporting the students’ skills development and preparation for the world of work, whatever their future career.

We are also working with the Barclays Early Careers team to ensure that work experience participants know the options available to them, as well as how and when they can apply for a career at Barclays.

In addtion, LifeSkills has a suite of virtual work experience content for young people. This suite of films helps them to discover different roles in finance and other key industries and links to the jobs of the future.

Barclays Discovery programme helps students at universities and those that face barriers to the workplace, to explore business areas, career pathways and summer internships at Barclays.  Students take part in business workshops, as well as specialised soft skills training, interview preparation and opportunities to network with and hear from senior leaders within the bank. The programme is part of our ongoing commitment to fostering an inclusive environment at Barclays - to ensure that diverse voices are heard and play an important role in Barclays development as a business. Applications are encouraged from students who identify as female, those who identify as LGBTQAI, those of black, Asian and ethnic minority heritage, or who identify as having a disability. Students will also hear from our diversity-focused employee networks, to give an insight into life at Barclays and help them to thing about next steps as a graduate.

FURTHER EDUCATION, HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Businesses need more need support and to be part of the skills system.  We welcome the Government’s recent announcement on Skills Accelerators, where businesses will be playing an active role in the development of Local Skills Improvement Plans, being piloted in trailblazers areas during 2021/22.

As said previously, strengthening the links between education and business is vital to helping and inspiring young people and creating a thriving jobs market for them. Business can provide information on what to teach and tools to help students build skills, as well as offering the opportunities to put learning into context through work experience and other face to face interventions. It also shows young people the local career paths and opportunities available to them.

Within FE particularly there is also potentially greater scope to offer work experience opportunities tailored to qualifications, ensuring the provision of rich, labour market linked information which reflects the differing needs of local businesses.  This can also highlight the different pathways that students could take after education, such as apprenticeships.

We were also pleased to see the National Skills Fund announcement as well as the Lifetime Skills guarantee, which empowers people to continue their ongoing development and training.
 

JOBS AND EMPLOYMENT

The UK economy was already rapidly changing prior to COVID-19, with significant implications for the future of work. The pandemic has since exacerbated existing social inequalities, while also accelerating the rate of change. Through our employability programme, LifeSkills are leveraging our regional networks and dialling-up our focus on regions or cities where there are fewer job opportunities. This includes scaling up our support in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. In October 2020, in Manchester, we supported 14 young jobseekers in partnership with the Co-op and The Prince’s Trust and included the opportunity to interview for live vacancies at the end of the programme.

Through the job-specific training and support that we provide, we believe that we can give businesses in these areas access to extremely motivated individuals who feel ready and prepared to start work, alongside diversifying their talent pipeline.

Additionally, as we know COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on hospitality and leisure.  Both were sectors that previously supported young people into jobs and through our employability programme we are now also looking to support sectors that are growing, such as Logistics, Healthcare, Digital, and the Green Economy. Through our employability partners and recruiting businesses, LifeSkills will open up more opportunities for job seekers in these new sectors, including young job seekers. For example, this year we have partnered with Generation: You Employed to support young people into digital roles following a five-week training programme.

We do expect recruitment demand in hospitality and leisure to bounce back once restrictions are lifted. We are seeing a decrease in supply of workers in these sectors due to Brexit and the impact of COVID-19, and at the same time expect an increase in vacancies.

It is also key to support the cohort of 2021 students who are either due to leave education this year or continue their studies.  They have been particularly impacted by the fast-changing job landscape, where employers are placing value on different skills, and new roles are emerging as a result of growth sectors shifting.  Students need to understand the landscape to navigate their next steps successfully. To support educators, LifeSkills brings together a well-rounded view of the immediate and short term labour market, including the roles and skills most in-demand as well as a suite of school leaver resources to support students in reaching their positive destination, especially those who have had to adapt their plans.

The packs offer students practical ways to work towards their next steps, whether that’s career goals or further/higher education.  Including:

• Planning pathways: practical ways to prepare for the transition into further education, training or employment.
• CVs and job applications: support demonstrating their skills and experience through CVs, applications, cover letters and interviews.
• Becoming more financially independent: techniques for feeling more confident and prepared as they move into work, university or training around money and self-management.

Moreover, the pandemic has created record levels of unemployment and the Black community is disproportionately impacted. Across Barclays’ Citizenship programmes, we are working with charities to tackle some of the systemic challenges and racial injustices that have led to a disproportionate impact across society. Through our Citizenship programmes we aim to support people that face barriers getting in to work by upskilling them and connecting them to businesses that are recruiting. Our programmes are also creating opportunities to hire exceptional, diverse talent at Barclays.

For young people who are still at school, LifeSkills has created resources to develop their understanding of diversity and its value to the workforce, which explores racial equality at work, with a particular focus on Black employees. This gives young people practical actions and behaviours to encourage the growth of an inclusive society, encouraging them to champion equality and facilitate open conversations about diversity and inclusion when applying for jobs/and when in jobs.

20th May 2021