UK Careers Body Demands All-Age Plan To Drive Economic Growth

Investment in Career Guidance is Essential To Cut NEET Rates And Fill Key Skills Shortages, says CDI

Budget Reaction from David Morgan, CDI chief executive 

Today's Autumn Budget had to balance driving growth within a tight fiscal environment. It’s imperative we look at ways to grow the economy, to increase the funds for investment, in a financially prudent way. This is why the Career Development Institute urges the Government to ensure all-age careers guidance is an integrated part of the economic plan. 

The Government rightly points to the Gatsby Benchmarks as providing a world-class framework for careers guidance in schools, and the valuable support the National Careers Service provides to adults. But careers services are woefully underfunded and would have a positive return for greater investment.  

We call for the government’s economic and opportunity plans to include much greater investment in careers guidance for young people and adults. Support in early years and through education can help young people make better choices first time around, reduce NEET rates and ensure their aspirations match the skills needs of the economy. Support for adults not only helps them move towards and into work, but also helps them develop skills throughout life and respond better to career shocks, such as redundancy. 

We call on the government to fully use the lever of career development for their economic and social opportunity plans by: 

• Developing an overarching careers strategy so that support for young people and adults is aligned, and has sufficient investment to play its full role in addressing major issues such as NEETs, economic inactivity and workforce shortages. 
• Expanding the careers guidance support offered to children in primary schools, to give them the widest perspective of career opportunities. 
• Ensuring schools and colleges have a consistent and higher minimum level of resource to support young people, especially for those most disadvantaged. 
• Including careers guidance support in skill, employability and social mobility programmes, including the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, so that people can access careers support both beforehand (to ensure the programme is suitable for them), and afterwards, (so they can make best use of the skills they have developed.) 

We urge the government to follow up on today’s announcements by recognising the critical role career development can play in growing the economy, increasing opportunity and meeting the skills challenges of the future. Without a strategic commitment to the UK's careers infrastructure, the government will be missing a key lever in achieving its ambition to drive long-term, sustainable growth.