15
Oct
2020

Investment industry must come together to help young people through COVID-19 crisis

Thursday 15 October 2020

Investment managers should come together to provide high-quality work placements for 16-24-year olds on Universal Credit, Investment20/20 said today as it announced a new initiative in support of the Government’s £2bn Kickstart scheme. 

Investment20/20, the Investment Association’s talent solution for the industry, is encouraging investment managers to join its new initiative aimed at facilitating Kickstart’s six-month work experience for 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment. As part of the scheme, Investment20/20 will act as a conduit for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to pay the National Minimum Wage to each participant for 25 hours a week of work*.

Investment20/20 is providing an industry solution for investment managers looking to participate in the Kickstart scheme, by providing resources and support to young people with no background knowledge of the industry, and enabling firms to offer work placements to fewer than 30 young people - a requirement to engage with DWP directly. 

To do this, Investment20/20 will step in as an industry representative group acting as a Kickstart provider, removing the requirement for each firm to offer 30 places. Investment20/20 will then support young people on the work placement through an online digital platform providing industry knowledge and skills development based on Investment20/20’s award-winning Think Investments programme, and utilise its position within the industry to identify permanent entry-level roles within firms for Kickstart participants where possible.

Karis Stander, Managing Director of Investment20/20, said:

“COVID-19 is threatening to leave the career chances of a generation of young people in tatters. As an industry whose customers are in almost every UK household, it is our responsibility to support the Government’s call and step forward to support young people into work.

“That is why today we’re calling on every investment management firm to join Investment20/20’s industry solution to the COVID-19 youth employment crisis, as we draw from our award-winning Think Investments programme, and provide a work experience life-line for young people who need it most.”

ENDS

​​​​​​Notes to Editors:

  • *Plus, the associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions.
  • For more information about the Government’s Kickstart scheme, and its broader ‘Plan for Jobs’, click here.

For further information, please contact:

Katie Martin, Head of Communications: [email protected] 

T: +44 (0)20 7269 4655

Helen Ayres, Communications Manager: [email protected] 

T: +44 (0)20 7269 4620

David Parton, Communications Executive: [email protected]

T: +44 (0)20 7269 4625

IA press office: [email protected]

T: 020 7269 4696

About the Investment Association (IA):

  • The IA champions UK investment management, supporting British savers, investors and businesses. Our 250 members manage £8.5 trillion of assets and the investment management industry supports 113,000 jobs across the UK.
  • Our mission is to make investment better. Better for clients, so they achieve their financial goals. Better for companies, so they get the capital they need to grow. And better for the economy, so everyone prospers.
  • Our purpose is to ensure investment managers are in the best possible position to:
    • Build people’s resilience to financial adversity
    • Help people achieve their financial aspirations
    • Enable people to maintain a decent standard of living as they grow older
    • Contribute to economic growth through the efficient allocation of capital.
  • The money our members manage is in a wide variety of investment vehicles including authorised investment funds, pension funds and stocks and shares ISAs.
  • The UK is the second largest investment management centre in the world, after the US and manages 37% of all assets managed in Europe.