Taskforce – Opportunity Guarantee

Our successful Opportunity Guarantee campaign has received national recognition, at the PRCA Public Affairs awards, winning ‘Trade Body Campaign of the Year’.

The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) is the world’s largest professional PR body.  As the national body for housing and employment and founding Chair of the Housing and Employment Taskforce, Communities that Work is delighted to win this award with BECG.

The Opportunity Guarantee campaign was launched to mitigate the unemployment crisis emerging from Covid-19, by securing meaningful action from the Government. The campaign focused on three targeted policy asks to Government, collectively known as the Opportunity Guarantee:

1. Promote job creation by investing in the jobs that we need for the future.
2. Support people into work by doubling the capacity in Jobcentres to help people access the jobs market.
3. Secure opportunities for young people and guarantee the choice of an education place, apprenticeship, or job.

All three of the Opportunity Guarantee’s policy asks were acted on by the Government in their ‘Plan for Jobs’, delivering:

• A £3bn green investment package supporting 140,000 jobs.
• Nearly £900m to double the number of work coaches in Jobcentres to 27,000.
• The £2bn Kickstart Scheme, creating 250,000 work placements for young people.

Recognition from these national awards is a testament to the tremendous achievements of the Opportunity Guarantee campaign and the partners who helped deliver it from the Housing and Employment Taskforce.

The Taskforce brings key leaders from the housing and employment sectors together to work with government and policy makers, to ensure that the sectors – and the people and communities they serve – are best supported through the Covid-19 pandemic and economic recovery. Working with officials from the DWP and MHCLG, the Taskforce members are:

• Communities that Work (Chair)
• Lord Kerslake
• BECG
• National Housing Federation (NHF)
• National Federation of ALMOs (NFA)
• Centre for Excellence in Community Investment (CECI)
• Learning and Work Institute (LWI)
• Employment Related Services Association (ERSA)
• Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP)
• Impetus and the Youth Employment Group
• Institute for Employment Studies

The Opportunity Guarantee campaign was also a Finalist for the PRWeek UK Corporate, City & Public Affairs Awards’ ‘Best Campaign to Actively Form or Shift Government Policy’ category.