As a large Bradford employer it’s important that we create a sustainable pipeline of talent for our business. That’s why one of the workstreams that make up Provident Financial’s Social Impact Programme helps people to acquire or boost their skills and aspirations.
Through bespoke initiatives delivered by expert partners across the city, we support literacy and numeracy interventions, as well as opportunities to gain insights into the world of work and acquire crucial life skills that contribute to social mobility.
It’s important that support is delivered in different ways and in different locations, including schools, workplaces and community settings, to meet the needs of those who would benefit most from participation.
Through the programme we fund three categories of support:
Education solutions
We work with Bradford-based education consultant, Leading Children, to deliver a bespoke literacy and numeracy programme supporting primary school children who take longer to learn.
In addition, we’re lead supporters of National Numeracy Day which raises awareness of the importance of numeracy and helps people improve their numeracy skills for every day life. This is also important to us as a financial services business as we want to ensure people understand the terms of financial products.
Family solutions
Our partnership with the charity School-Home Support means we can enable them to place practitioners in schools such as One In A Million, to work with families who need support the most, ensuring young people don’t lose out on education because of disadvantage at home.
We’ve seen improvements in school attendance, behaviour, and children being more engaged with learning. Achieving and sustaining this improvement involves working with the whole family, which is why School-Home Support’s approach is to support parents too, breaking down barriers to learning such as poverty, poor housing, domestic violence and other complex issues.
The Money Charity
Often those individuals and families who might benefit most from learning how to manage their money are unaware of or unable to access support that would help. The Money Charity deliver financial education to individuals in disadvantaged communities and hard-to-reach sectors and through our partnership with them we’ve worked with a range of support organisations such as carer groups, family support organisations, organisations supporting the homeless, offenders and women’s refuges.
Aspiration solutions
Thinking about life after school can be daunting, even more so for young people in the disadvantaged areas of Bradford who might not have achieved the outcomes they needed or wanted to at school. These youngsters are more likely to face unemployment when leaving school due to the often complex barriers they face.
As a large employer our colleagues are a good source of advice and guidance for these students. This is why we fund National Literacy Trust’s Words for Work programme in Hanson School, Westbourne Primary and One In A Million, giving young people skills that will support them through school while giving them the confidence and desire to broaden their aspirations.
