News
Career Guidance Guarantee presented in UK Parliament today
20/07/2023
The Career Development Policy Group (CDPG), of which the Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Ltd is a founding member, was represented in UK parliament today at a roundtable on “A Career Guidance Guarantee for England”.
In partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Skills, Careers & Employment, the session bought together key stakeholders from the career guidance system, including Policy Connect, to explore the evidence base on the benefits of career guidance and to learn more about the CDPG’s “Career Guidance Guarantee”.
The Career Development Policy Group (CDPG) was established in 2018 to create a coherent voice to articulate and promote the importance of the benefits of professional career guidance and to embed enhanced career guidance across the education and employment systems. The Career Guidance Guarantee was subsequently launched in 2021 to suggest ways in which to improve the current system. Difficulties faced with the current system focus on funding, inconsistency, unequal national access, low public awareness along with recruitment and retention issues.
It was highlighted during the session that investing in career guidance in England could have a significant return on investment, with evidence suggesting that youth guidance yields £2.50 for every pound spent, while guidance for unemployed adults yields £3.20. Additionally, implementing a guarantee could increase salaries by 5% for at least 1% of the population, generating increased tax revenue to cover the costs.
The Career Guidance Guarantee calls for six actions that could transform the provision of career guidance in England:
- Publish a careers strategy – leading to a clearer and more coherent system that guarantees all-age access to career guidance
- Finish the Gatsby Revolution
- Challenge youth unemployment
- Develop graduates’ careers
- Support lifelong career development
- Ensure quality and professionalism
To support the Career Guidance Guarantee, the CDPG shared an ‘Investing in Career’s’ report during the roundtable session that included a costed plan to address the suggested improvements. It suggests an additional spend of £315m on youth careers services and an additional £235m for careers services for adults. This equates to an average additional spend of £47 per person on career guidance for young people and an additional £6 per working age adult.
With evidence that good career guidance can ultimately support efficient functioning of the labour market, skills alignment and enhanced economic and social benefits, CRAC on behalf of the CDPG looks forward to the prospect of future collaboration to implement the Career Guidance Guarantee and potential resulting policy changes.
Clare Viney CEO, CRAC, who presented the Career Guidance Guarantee quoted:
“We must change the narrative from seeing career guidance as a cost rather than an investment”.
