EY – Written evidence (SMO0134)
Dear Baroness Corston
House of Lords Social Mobility Committee: Call for evidence
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EY and the EY Foundation are pleased to have been invited to give evidence to the House of Lords Social Mobility Committee (the Committee) in connecting with the Committee’s inquiry into the transition from school to work for 14-24 year olds.
We note that the Committee is focusing its inquiry on young people falling between the route of A-Levels and Higher Education and those classified as NEET – in particular, young people aged 14-24 who are not on, who do not intend to follow, or who did not follow the A-Level to Higher Education pathway.
Our responses to the specific questions raised by the Committee in its Call for Evidence are set out in Annex I to this submission, which forms the main body of our written evidence.
In this letter, however, we would like to provide the Committee with an overview of:
• The EY Foundation
• The EY Foundation – brining employers and school leavers together
• The role of EY as a Social Mobility Champion
• Recent changes to EY’s recruitment process
More detailed, supplementary information on the EY Foundation and its programmes and EY work experience and recruitment is included as Appendix II.
The EY Foundation
The EY Foundation is a new independent charity founded by EY in the UK which launched in July 2014 – EY is the charity’s first major corporate donor. The charity helps young people disadvantaged in the labour market to find alternative routes into employment, education or enterprise.
EY Foundation’s work involves designing, developing and running its own programmes - Smart Futures, Our Future and Accelerate - as well as raising independent funds to support new initiatives and reach more young people across the UK. The EY Foundation’s video is available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTwgCr4_qXw
The charity aims to support young people aged 11-30. However, its investments in the next three years are most concentrated around those aged 16-18 who have a range of hurdles to overcome when attempting to transition smoothly from statutory education to further education, employment or self-employment. (The EY Foundation’s new three-year strategy will be made public by the end of this year.)
The EY Foundation is unique in its position as the link between employers and young people, having strong existing relationships with both. This allows the programmes that the Foundation delivers to have the capability to make both young people become employer-ready and employers become young people-ready. It also supports social entrepreneurs to grow their businesses so that they can also help young people get work-ready and create local jobs for them.
The EY Foundation also works with charitable partners: Impetus – The Private Equity Foundation, Princes’ Trust, Social Business Trust, Think Forward and UnLtd - providing them with access to volunteers and business resource to support the delivery of their activities.
The commitment from EY has assisted in increasing significantly the impact of the charity’s existing programmes, raising money to grow these programmes more quickly, and in the provision of skilled staff to support its mission and aims. The charity’s full vision, mission and purpose are set out in Annex II.
We have also included, in Annex II, a summary of the EY Foundation programmes that are aimed at helping young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds prepare for and get into work.
The EY Foundation - bringing employers and school leavers together
We note that, amongst other things, the Committee is particularly keen to hear what could be done to encourage employers to employ more school leavers (both at the age of 16 and at 18).
In the experience of the EY Foundation charity team, it is clear that targeted employer engagement at the right moments in a young person’s life can be transformational in two ways – it can:
• Produce work-ready young people fit for the economy of today and tomorrow
• Demonstrate that many young people are already work-ready, but need a chance to shine
Employers often struggle to fill vacancies due to a real or perceived lack of suitably talented people in the local labour market. There is a growing desire amongst UK businesses to invest more in developing young people’s skills. The challenge for many organisations is not making the case for why they should invest in the skills development of young people, but how to do it: this can include very practical issues such as knowing how to engage with young people.
Encouraging more employers to recruit school leavers is often about providing both young people and employers with a great experience of work together.
The EY Foundation, through its programmes, gives local employers access to talented young people - who they might not have recruited on paper – and access to skills, knowledge and expertise to offer meaningful paid experiences of work to young people. In crude terms one could refer to this as a ‘try before you buy’ approach.
The role of EY as a Social Mobility Champion
As you will be aware, EY is a Social Mobility Champion and we are committed to outreach work to accelerate social mobility through taking direct action and facilitating other organisations (including other employers) to take action. For example, EY:
• Is a founding member of Access Accountancy, a group that has come together to launch a social mobility drive to provide equal opportunities and fair access to all in the accountancy profession
• Co-hosted a young people led roundtable discussion with the Rt Hon Alan Milburn, Chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission on "What makes a great experience of work?”
• Hosted a debate on the role of employers, including social enterprises, in developing the employability skills of young people
• Will also be hosting a debate on 2 December, in conjunction with Leicester University, on Social Mobility: the business case. This will be the fourth in the Leicester Exchanges Social Mobility series, with up to 120 employers attending
Recent changes to EY’s recruitment process
In August 2015 EY transformed its recruitment selection process by removing academic qualifications from our entry criteria for the 2016 graduate, undergraduate and school leaver programmes[1]. Instead, EY will use a new and enhanced suite of online ‘strengths’ assessments and numerical tests to assess the potential of applicants for 2016.
This decision comes after an 18-month analysis of the firm’s student selection process by talent management firm Capp, which confirmed EY’s strengths based approach - used in the recruitment process since 2008 - is a robust and reliable indicator of a candidate’s potential to succeed in role. We believe that transforming our recruitment process will open up opportunities for talented individuals regardless of their background and provide greater access to the profession.
We have included, in Annex II, further information on EY work experience and recruitment.
We hope that the information provided in this written evidence will be useful to the Committee in its inquiry. We would, of course, be happy to provide further detail. Please do not hesitate to contact us if that would be helpful.
Yours sincerely
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Maggie Stilwell | Maryanne Matthews |
UK&I Managing Partner for Talent, EY | Chief Executive, EY Foundation
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Annex I: Response to the House of Lords Social Mobility Committee’s Call for Evidence
Please note that our responses below draw on desk based research looking at the labour market landscape for young people and the provision of work experience, which was conducted to help inform strategic choices around the work of the EY Foundation over the next three years. The research was for internal purposes only. The analysis included a read across of a number of publicly available pieces of independent research conducted by a variety of organisations in the UK. See also Annex II.
- What are the most significant factors that affect the social mobility and employment outcomes of young people in the transition from school into the work place?
1.1. We perceive that, amongst other things, the social mobility and employment outcomes of young people in the transition from school into the work place are effected by both a “talent and skills gap” and a “guidance gap”.
The talent and skills gap
1.2. There is an increasing mismatch between young people’s skills and experiences on leaving statutory education and those needed by employers, leading to a talent and skills gap. Employer engagement in schools is key to helping young people better prepare for the world of work. The Education and Employers Task Force survey states that young people who have four or more engagements with business whilst at school are better prepared for work than peers that don’t.
1.3. Employers want to get more involved in schools to help young people prepare for work. However, many barriers exist including: limited support to ensure good quality programmes, young people/schools not interested in engaging and practical problems around timings/resources.
1.4. A large number of frameworks exist to help organisations (including businesses) better understand the needs of young people as they prepare to move from education to employment, e.g. New Philanthropy Capital’s JET framework, Impetus Private Equity Foundation’s ‘ready for work’ quantitative scale and the CIPD’s youth engagement map.
The Guidance gap
1.5. We have provided, with this written evidence, a copy of the July 2015 survey “Parental Influence: the key role played by parents in their children’s decisions about routes and pathways post-18” prepared by Chris Phillips, GTI Media Research and sponsored by EY. This YouGov survey of 1,018 parents looked at their role in giving careers guidance; their attitude towards schools; and whether young people are adequately prepared for the workplace.
1.6. As we stated in this survey, the research results highlight that the amount and quality of information available for the parents of today's school leavers is not sufficient for the majority to be able to help their children make informed career decisions post-18. It is clear that the right time for parents to have this information is much earlier than employers like ourselves had previously anticipated, with over 50% of the opinion that GCSE choices in Year 9 is when careers advice and information would be best delivered, and of most value. Without this guidance it would seem many of today's school leavers are left unsure as to what they should do after completing formal education, a clear action point for anyone working with, and seeking to encourage them to pursue a career path leading to their particular sector or profession.
1.7. Over half of the parents surveyed (53%) said they will have the biggest influence over their child’s next steps. This was followed by teachers on 23% and their children’s friends on 23%. Careers advisers were ranked in fourth place with 21%. However, the results suggest that there is a ‘guidance gap’ between what parents expect their role to be and the knowledge they have at their disposal. More than half of parents (64%) recognised that they needed better information and called for more resources to help them to support their children and give the best advice possible at this important juncture[2].
1.8. In particular, in the absence of information and awareness about alternative career routes, such as an apprenticeships or school-leaver schemes, university is often seen as the default option by parents. Although the reasons for this are valid, many of these reasons also apply to the huge range of alternatives available including school leaver programmes, apprenticeships and other vocational qualifications. As the research reveals, most parents surveyed were not fully aware of the non-university options available - only 1% of parents said they knew ‘a lot’ about school leaver programmes; only 6% knew of ‘vocational further education courses’; and only 9% were fully aware of apprenticeships or higher apprenticeship programmes.
1.9. Regardless of whether students ultimately opt for university, a school leaver scheme, apprenticeship or another route entirely, it’s important that they are able to make well informed choices about their career path. This requires parents, schools and employers to work together to fill the current perceived guidance gap.
- There is a group of young people aged 14-24 who do not follow the A-Level and higher education route, and are not classified as NEET. What is known about the young people in this group– who are they, why are they in this position and what are their career trajectories?
2.1. The EY Foundation piloted a new programme in the spring for young people aged 16-19 that the Committee has termed as “the missing middle”. The programme convenes young people who are furthest away from the labour market with employers that are looking for local talent.
2.2. The programme – which has been named Our Future, by the students that participated in the pilot – seeks to address key gaps in the existing provision for youth employment across the UK. It focusses on young people (aged 16-19) in statutory education who have significant barriers to transition into the workplace.
2.3. It convenes and prepares UK employers who recruit school leavers but require support to meet and engage with young people in their local labour market.
2.4. Details of the programme and a student case study can be found in Annex II, paras 1.11 et seq.
2.5. All of the young people on the programme have struggled with academic attainment and are from low-income communities. What we have learnt about them beyond this is that they range across a spectrum of need. For example, they may be young carers or young parents; they may have a disability, or have had a challenging home life; they may have been negatively influenced in terms of life choices, or been told that they would not achieve in their lives.
2.6. 90% of the young people that took part in Our Future said that they believed that the programme would increase their chances of obtaining a job. The also said that they are now more likely to know what career they would like to pursue, and the qualifications that they need to obtain it. It was noted that there was a significant increase in the number of young people reporting that they were very confident meeting new people.
2.7. The indicative outcomes for young people on the programme:
• Improved awareness of own strengths and weaknesses
• Improved willingness to learn and adapt
• Greater determination and motivation to succeed
• Better equipped to cope with change and rejection
• Increased understanding of the local labour market and better able to access opportunities
• Improved ability to build positive relationships
• Increased confidence in own abilities
• Better equipped to engage with people from different backgrounds
• Improved time and organisation skills
2.8. The indicative outcomes for employers on the programme:
• Greater awareness and understanding of how to find and recruit young people
• Increased understanding of the employer benefits of offering a range of pathways into work for young people
• Better understanding of how to support and train young people
• More receptive to employing young people from a broader talent pool
• More equipped to build and sustain relationships with young people
2.9. Young people who left, or intend to leave, school at 16 and are in employment and/or training will have, or have had, different employability needs. Unless these needs are met at an early stage there is likely to be an impact on their career trajectories.
- Does the current transition system support young people who do not follow the A-Level and higher education route to perform better in terms of employment outcomes? If not, why not? What challenges do these young people face in their ability to transition successfully into the workplace?
3.1. Many young people are not being actively prepared to transition from education to employment. For young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds this leads to low social mobility and unemployment or underemployment.
3.2. From the desk research that was undertaken, it appears to us that:
• There is a lot of overlap in the types of intervention offered
• The geography of interventions is patchy
• There is a lack of brokerage services to help employers and schools connect in meaningful ways
• There is a lack of partnership working to help young people (and schools) navigate from one intervention to the next
• Interventions are often short term in nature, lack meaningful impact measurement, not connected to measurement frameworks such as the Journey to Employment framework devised by New Philanthropy Capital
• Employer engagement is often viewed as a ‘good thing to do’ by business with limited, quantifiable business benefits leading to sustainability issues
• The Micro and SME community face additional barriers to engaging in schools
3.3. There is growing concern over the lack of transparency and knowledge of what happens to post-16 NEETs i.e. 16-17 year olds who have dropped out of education but not appeared on the 18+ picture in job centres, as they do not qualify for benefits. Local Authorities often do not have the resources and data to track them and schools have no incentive to follow their progress. In our analysis above these are the ‘unknowns’ – post-16 NEETs, with very little provision identified in any local picture.
- How can the transition from school to work be improved for all young people, particularly for those who do not go on to study A-Levels and higher education? How can employers be encouraged to employ more young people from this group?
4.1. The EY Foundation conducted a small number of employer consultations in late spring/ early summer under Chatham House rules. The discussions were conducted to help inform where the charity could have the biggest impact and how this might help shape and define its three-year strategic plan. The insights gathered during this process highlighted a number of reasons why employers choose to engage with broader a range of young people:
• Can’t fill roles
• Can fill roles from current applicants but diversity is poor
• Staff development
• Brand
• Right thing to do
4.2. To improve the transition from school to work for all young people, it is important to increase the supply of business engagement and unlock the potential in a large number of employers (including SMEs, charities and social enterprises) that don't actively support young people with preparing for work.
4.3. However, what is needed is targeted engagement, rather than generic CSR. It is important that:
• The culture of employers viewing activities as just ‘the right thing to do’ is ended
• There are activities to support business needs and encourage more resources and sustainability
• An engagement framework is created to enable employers to map where and how they can make the biggest impact in relation to their strengths and needs and remove overlap
• Interventions are targeted at specific cohorts of young people, demonstrating impact through mapping back to recognised frameworks.
4.4. Whilst support is needed, such as local engagement maps, large firms have an important role in promoting social mobility with their suppliers and by making expertise available to other firms. For example, EY champions young people and employability issues and works with employers to help them engage more young people:
• We are a founding member of Access Accountancy, a group that has come together to launch a social mobility drive to provide equal opportunities and fair access to all in the accountancy profession.
• Through our status as one of 12 Social Mobility Business Compact Champions EY has been encouraging and supporting other businesses to work with a broader range of young people.
• Our tender documents ask bidders about their actions to promote social mobility.
• A new employability pilot run by the EY Foundation (see Annex II) is working with EY service providers to help them recruit more difficult to reach young people.
• We are exploring plans to expand the EY Foundation Smart Futures’ programme (See Annex II) reach through:
• delivering the programme in partnership with other employers
• delivering the programme on behalf of other employers
• providing Smart Futures material ‘open source’
4.5. Particularly given the guidance gap discussed in our response to Q1, information and pathways are also crucial to improving the transition for young people e.g.:
• The provision of quality, locally tailored careers guidance for all young people
• The promotion of vocational pathways and transitioning from education straight into employment as creditable alternatives to university
• A focus on high quality apprenticeships, relevant to local labour market
• The creation of interventions which specifically help young people, with known barriers to social mobility, to make successful transitions from school into the work place
• The promotion of self-employment or entrepreneurship as a career choice for schools leavers
- Who should be responsible for improving the system to support the transition into work for school leavers?
5.1. Clearly many stakeholders, including employers, have key roles to play in improving the system to support the transition into work for school leavers.
5.2. As discussed above, though, it is important that initiatives are kept local and joined up, with interventions identified, designed and delivered at the local level, in partnership, based on local mapping of labour market needs and trends.
Appendix II: Supplementary information
Note: this annex draw on material from the EY Social Mobility Business Champion application
- The EY Foundation
1.1 The EY Foundation helps young people disadvantaged in the labour market to find alternative routes into employment, education or enterprise. Its work involves designing, developing and running its own programmes - Smart Futures, Our Future and Accelerate (a programme that provides skills capital to grow social enterprises) - as well as raising independent funds to support new initiatives and reach more young people across the UK. The charity aims to support young people aged 11-30. However, the investments it will make in the next three years are most concentrated around those aged 16–18 who have a range of hurdles to overcome when attempting to transition smoothly from statutory education to further education, employment or self-employment.
1.2 The EY Foundation is unique in its position as the link between employers and young people, having strong existing relationships with both. This allows the programmes that the Foundation delivers to have the capability to make both young people become employer-ready and employers become young people-ready.
1.3 The charity also:
• Supports social entrepreneurs to grow their businesses so that they can also help young people get work-ready and create local jobs for them
• Works with charitable partners: Impetus – The Private Equity Foundation, Princes’ Trust, Social Business Trust, Think Forward and UnLtd - providing them with access to volunteers and business resource to support the delivery of their activities
1.4 EY Foundation: vision, mission and purpose:
1.5 The EY Foundation has also undertaken market analysis[3] to:
• Understand the current landscape of need, provision and outcomes for young people aged 14-18 in preparing for and making transitions from statutory education into employment, higher education or training, with a focus on employment
• Focus, in particular, on needs, support and outcomes for young people who have characteristics which indicate they are more likely to have limited social mobility, including those who are more vulnerable and at risk of becoming NEET[4] on leaving statutory education; and
• Identify how it can make the biggest impact.
1.6 The analysis is desk based research looking at the labour market landscape for young people and the provision of work experience. The research was conducted to help inform strategic choices around the work of the charity over the next three-years. The research was for internal purposes only. The analysis includes a read across of a number of publicly available pieces of independent research conducted by a variety of organisations in the UK.
1.7 The findings of this analysis, which we refer to in more detail in Annex I, show that there is a clear disconnect between the work-readiness of many young people and the skills required by employers - leading to a talent gap. Furthermore, existing programmes tend to focus on CV preparation, employability skills sessions and not providing sustained, structured experiences of work with local employers which have relevant entry level vacancies. There are also a large number of businesses who want to do more, including offering work experience, but are unsure how to.
1.8 The EY Foundation helps young people in a number of ways including delivering programmes specially aimed at helping young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds prepare for and get into work. The current portfolio of programmes includes the following.
1.9 Smart Futures - aims to help young people aged 17-18 to secure a good first job or as a progression path to further education. The programme is aimed at young people who attend state school or college and are from low-income communities. The programme offers a series of interactive learning experiences, structured paid experiences of work with local employers, mentoring and networking events over a 10 month period. The programme is designed support to young people:
• Develop their employability skills
• Boost their confidence
• Develop a greater understanding of the local labour market, employment opportunities and how to access them:
• Gain work experience at a local employer
• Meet local employers and develop a network of contacts.
1.10 The Smart Futures programme is underpinned by employer engagement. It is designed to enable local employers to spend structured time with local young people who they may not come into contact with outside of the Foundation’s work.
1.11 Our Future - is a paid experience of work for young people with significant barriers to making a smooth transition from statutory education onto the labour market - including low academic attainment. It starts with three weeks of paid experiences followed by six months of mentoring. The programme works with UK employers who recruit school leavers but require support to meet and engage with young people in their local labour market.
1.12 Our Future is structured to create local career awareness, provide employability skills training and offer extended periods of work experience to its participants. It is tailored to the needs of employers and young people, creating an environment where misperceptions of both groups can be addressed and employers can help unlock future talent and meet their business needs.
1.13 The programme started in 2015 as a pilot in London, with 10 young people completing the programme. Work experience opportunities were offered to the 10 participants by five UK employers (all organisations that are within EY’s supply chain.) The EY Foundation’s Board of Trustees has taken the decision to invest in Our Future as part of the charity’s programmatic portfolio, to be funded by employers involved in the programme and charitable donations to the EY Foundation.
1.14 ThinkForward - is a programme that intervenes early on in the lives of young people to improve significantly the prospects of those most at risk of becoming a NEET. Its objective is a 50% reduction in the number of NEETs in the pilot area of Shoreditch. Working with Impetus - The Private Equity Foundation, EY provided pro-bono support to design and develop ThinkForward in 2011. Subsequently, EY financially committed to supporting ThinkForward for a minimum of five years as a founding partner. EY currently supports over 120 ThinkForward students across five schools in London through the EY Foundation.
1.15 Each programme has a clear set of output and outcomes measures which success is measured against. This includes outcomes for young people, volunteers and other stakeholders
1.16 Business voice for young people - the EY Foundation’s aim is to be more than a delivery charity; it also wants to be a business voice for young people on employability issues and to represent employers on making an investment in young people’s futures: acting as a convenor and bringing key plays together to help young people. The EY Foundation also:
• Launched an online volunteering portal to help match EY people with opportunities nationwide
• Provides funding and in-kind support for charities helping young people such The Prince’s Trust, Social Mobility Foundation and Bright Ideas Trust
• Maintains relationships with a number of schools in challenging areas providing mentors and governors.
- EY work experience and recruitment
Work experience
2.1. EY runs a wide range of work taster programmes open to all young people. However, we target educational institutions/young people with above average levels of disadvantage. As noted above:
• We offer young people work experience opportunities in EY through the EY Foundation’s Smart Futures. The programme is linked to real job opportunities at EY, targets young people who are eligible for free school meals and/or the first in their family to potentially go to university. EY helps to promote the programme at schools with above average free school meal percentages.
• EY volunteers support the delivery of the new EY Foundation programme – Our Future – which is a work experience programme linked to real job opportunities at a range of businesses some of which are in EY’s supply chain. The programme targets young people who are further away from the labour market and have been identified as being at risk of not transitioning from education to employment.
2.2. Where we have a presence across the UK, we have committed to offering work placements in all areas.
2.3. All EY work experience opportunities are openly and formally advertised online and we believe that recruiting from the widest possible talent pool enhances the diversity of our firm. We put all applicants through a standard applications process and adhere to best practice in managing both internships and placements.
2.4. EY and the EY Foundation firmly believe that all work experience and internships should be paid.
• All young people on Smart Futures are paid the national minimum wage (plus London weighting for students on the London programme)
• All young people on the Our Future programme receive the same pay rate as Smart Futures students
• The EY Foundation is considering establishing a ‘hardship’ fund for young people on our programmes who need upfront assistance with travel
• EY seeks to provide financial assistance for those doing work experience if they are not entitled to the minimum wage
2.5. As discussed previously, in 2015 the EY Foundation’s Smart Futures programme expanded to more locations to have a wider impact – offering 135 places to young people in 10 locations across the UK, targeting schools and colleges with a higher than average percentage of students on free school meals, and areas where we can have a real impact.
The EY recruitment process
2.6. EY is one of the UK’s largest student recruiters. In addition to recruiting for over 1400 graduate trainee positions and 500 places on our undergraduate programmes, we are currently recruiting for over 120 school-leavers.
2.7. In August 2015 EY transformed its recruitment selection process by removing academic qualifications from our entry criteria for the 2016 graduate, undergraduate and school leaver programmes[5]. Instead, EY will use a new and enhanced suite of online ‘strengths’ assessments and numerical tests to assess the potential of applicants for 2016.
2.8. This decision comes after an 18-month analysis of the firm’s student selection process by talent management firm Capp, which confirmed EY’s strengths based approach - used in the recruitment process since 2008 - is a robust and reliable indicator of a candidate’s potential to succeed in role. We believe that transforming our recruitment process will open up opportunities for talented individuals regardless of their background and provide greater access to the profession.
2.9. Academic qualifications will still be taken into account and indeed remain an important consideration when assessing candidates as a whole, but will no longer act as a barrier to getting a foot in the door. Transforming our recruitment policy is intended to create a more even and fair playing field for all candidates, giving every applicant the opportunity to prove their abilities. We also believe that the changes to our recruitment process will help us to access the widest and deepest possible talent pools.
2.10. We try to make all recruitment social mobility friendly, including advertising all entry level roles and making them available to as wide a group as possible. The EY Recruitment team runs a wide range of skills and awareness sessions in schools cross the UK including ‘back to school’ which encourages employees to speak at their schools
2.11. All of EY's entry level roles are advertised on the EY careers website and school-leaver roles are actively promoted in schools and through external partnerships with organisations such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW), Sponsors for Educational Opportunities (SEO), PurePotential, and Bright Network. All work experience opportunities are listed on ey.com and also the ukcareerguide.ey.com where students can find opportunities that are relevant to their level and career objectives.
The EY School Leaver programme
2.12. We offer well-structured non-graduate entry routes providing opportunity to attain parity with graduate entrants, including qualification and skills which are recognised by other employers.
2.13. The EY School Leaver programme is a five year training contract. During the first two years students complete their Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business (CFAB) qualification ICAEW / Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAS), receive relevant technical training for their service line and gain valuable on the job experience. After completing CFAB, students study towards the same qualification as their peers on the graduate programme.
2.14. After year two, school leavers fall in line with the progression route of graduates. They go on to study a range of professional qualifications depending on the service line they join, with the majority going on to gain the Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ACA).
2.15. Salary progression across the programme recognises the experience and value students add to the business. At the end of the five year programme there is full parity with graduates with respect to salary, professional qualification, job title and grade within the organisation
2.16. This programme has been recognised industry wide and attracted multiple awards including:
• Best Attraction Strategy (School Leavers) - 2014 AGR awards - Awarded for the way that we engage with and attract school leavers to the firm
• Top 30 Employer of School Leavers – RateMyApprentice - Awarded No.9 overall and No.1 Professional Services firm
2.17. We are very proud that a number of our school leavers have made it all the way to the top of the organisation – and stayed. This includes Liz Bingham OBE, a Transaction Advisory partner (who previously held the role of UK&I Managing Partner for Talent until July 2015) and Jon Hughes, Managing Partner for the UK firm’s Transaction Advisory Services.