Our diverse portfolio of brands allow us to deliver for our customers at every stage of their lives
Meet All Our Brands
If you are a customer with a query, you should contact the company who administers your policy in the first instance.
Browse Our Brands
A new report*,’Work in Progress – Unlocking the value of adult careers guidance’ has found that better adult career guidance** could contribute billions to the UK economy and calls on the Government to fundamentally change the way it is offered to adults, through the newly created National Jobs and Careers Service***, to help more people access good quality work and develop their careers.
According to the report by Phoenix Insights, Phoenix Group’s longevity think tank, and research consultancy Public First, more investment into adult careers guidance, alongside awareness raising of the service and a focus on career guidance as a key policy issue, could help people get into jobs that better suit their needs, enable longer working lives, reduce economic inactivity, help people to reskill, and boost the economy.
Modelling shows over £70 billion is lost every year in economic value due to skills overmatch in the UK, where individuals have skills that could be employed more effectively elsewhere in the same industry****.
Phoenix Insights has recommended seven ways in which the Government can expand the focus of the National Jobs and Careers Service and extend its reach so that it offers accessible careers guidance to everyone, irrespective of whether they are working or not, and actively support those most likely to benefit from this.
It also calls for the National Jobs and Carers Service to shift focus from getting people into any available job and instead focus on interventions to support people through providing better career guidance – at a national and regional level – so they can move and progress into meaningful, well-paid work.
Nearly two-in-five (37%) workers in England are overqualified for their current job, the highest proportion in the OECD, while over a third (34%) are over skilled, well above the OECD average of 26%*****..
The report suggests that closing the skills mismatch gap with France, by just a fifth, by 2030 could add up to £15 billion to the UK economy – three times the current budget for improving adult skills.
Helping people to identify job opportunities that are more suited to their skillset, could inject billions into the UK economy.
The Government’s plans for a new National Jobs and Careers Service have the potential to reinvigorate the UK labour market, by ensuring people can find jobs that are right for them at different stages of their life, boosting productivity and enabling more people to stay in paid work that suits them all the way to retirement.
Careers guidance for adults does not currently work as we need it to. We must see accessible support tailored to local employment needs made available to all the people who would benefit from it, irrespective of their employment status.
The Government has repeatedly stated that improving the UK’s productivity is one of its core ambitions. A comprehensive and well-funded careers service that values adult career guidance is a pivotal step towards achieving that goal
The report outlines seven design principles which the new National Jobs and Careers Service should implement for a new approach to career guidance:
A panel event at Central Hall, Westminster on 5th March, taking place during National Careers Week, will discuss how adult career guidance can be provided to the millions of UK adults who would benefit from it. Please sign up to attend the event virtually on Zoom.
*Phoenix Insights, February 2025, Work in Progress: Unlocking the value of adult careers guidance
**Career guidance supports people to make learning choices, to find and keep work and to manage their working. It takes many forms including education, advice and the provision of information or online services.
*** A new National Jobs and Careers Service was announced by Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall MP in July 2024 as part of its Back to Work Plan: Back to Work Plan will help drive economic growth in every region - GOV.UK
**** Public First used OECD analysis on adult skills to carry out new economic modelling which estimates the productivity gains associated with more effectively allocating skills across the economy, something which better adult career guidance could support. A full methodology for this modelling is included in the final report.
***** OECD (2024), Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of Adult Skills 2023
