A new report by City & Guild Foundation reveals the impact of its activities over the last five years.
Since 2015 the City & Guilds Foundation has been driven by a single purpose: to create opportunities for everyone to succeed, no matter who they are or where they come from. It has achieved this through a focus on skills gaps and sectors with potential for social mobility, innovative partnership and social investment – together with a ‘test and learn’ approach to identify and scale up successful models. Since 2020 it has supported over 15,000 individuals with funding and offered nearly £6m of grants to frontline charities and individuals. In total, its frontline funding has created £23m of social return on investment.
Its five-year Impact Report recognises a milestone in its journey of innovation – evaluating and celebrating the transformative power of skills as a means of achieving social and economic change.
Working alongside charity partners, the City & Guilds Foundation has enabled small charities to become sustainable and expand the reach of their frontline services, while demonstrating the impact of their life-changing services.
Tackling a key workforce skills gap alongside the challenges of education within the prison population, the Foundation worked with employers and the rail industry to pioneer the first ever Rail Engineering Centre of Excellence in a UK prison at HMP Highpoint; an initiative that delivers high-quality training to create real job opportunities on release. To date, 81% of learners have secured employment on release, generating £1.6 million in social value through increased skills, improved wellbeing, sustained employment and reduced reoffending rates.
Through its in-demand bursary scheme, the Foundation has focused on supporting individuals who are in genuine financial need, while addressing skills demand in key sectors; investing over £1.2 million to help those facing financial hardship to access the training required to move forward in their lives and in work – while generating over £5.8 million in attributable social value.
Dame Ann Limb DBE DL FRSA FCGI, Chair of the City & Guilds Foundation said:
‘The activities of the City & Guilds Foundation, its partners and collaborators, reinforce my fundamental belief in the role that education and opportunity play in delivering meaningful social change, particularly where there are barriers to success. When people acquire the tools to gain meaningful work, provide for their families and play a productive part in society we all benefit.’
As part of its commitment to inclusiveness in the workplace, the Foundation partnered with Do-it Solutions, experts in neurodiversity screening and assessment, to provide charity partners with access to its profiling resources. This was followed by the introduction of the annual Neurodiversity Index, which explores the experience of neurodivergent individuals in the workplace – inspiring more than a thousand organisations to commit to greater neurodivergence equity.
In addition to supporting high-quality training, the Foundation has achieved significant impact though celebrating organisations which show commitment to investing in, and delivering, excellent learning and skills development to their employees. Through the Princess Royal Training Awards, 471 awards have been awarded to 306 organisations, collectively representing a workforce of approximately 3 million people – nearly 9% of the total UK workforce.
Looking ahead to the future, interim CEO of City & Guilds Foundation, Mike Adamson CBE, said:
“I am hugely excited to play my part in setting the direction for the next five, fifteen and fifty years, where our work is likely to be needed more than ever if we are to tackle the inequalities that hold back our society. The variety and richness of the stories in our report show how much can be achieved by providing funding for people to access skills, celebrating great work and advocating for a more equitable workplace.”
Following the acquisition of City & Guilds by PeopleCert, the City & Guilds Foundation, operating under the City & Guilds of London Institute, continues its vital work as a Royal Charter charity, and now enters a new chapter, ideally positioned to expand its work in social mobility, inclusion and community-based skills access.
