The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has launched a programme with the Careers & Enterprise Company – starting with two London schools – in order to raise awareness of the diversity of careers in insurance. The programme will include work experience within the industry, an activity day for students and in-school presentations, as well as hosting a signposting service for students to access when considering their careers.

The programme aims to help address the need to bring local diverse talent into the industry, specifically with a focus on young people from under privileged areas.

BIBA will be partnering with the Bishop Challoner Catholic School and the Mulberry Academy Shoreditch, both in the Tower Hamlets borough of London and local to the City’s financial district. Both schools have been selected by the Careers & Enterprise Company as the most suitable partners for the programme.

Nicola Maguire, BIBA’s Head of Commercial, commented:

“We are raising awareness of the opportunities our industry has to offer to a young talent group.  Our members have told us that we need a new talent pipeline to address the skills gap we know is coming in the next 5-10 years, and this programme will most definitely help to achieve that. We have brought 10 passionate individuals from our industry together to form our London & South East Committee who will make this difference.

Members of the Committee will go into schools and drive this initiative forward, creating a programme that the rest of the UK can simply follow. This programme will also be a BIBA member benefit, meaning any one of our members will be able to use it to create awareness of insurance as a career and a new local talent pipeline.”

The BIBA London and South East committee has built and led this project since July last year, and will now deliver it to the current Year 12 students in both schools, followed by an activity day at Lloyd’s of London and concluding with a commitment to secure 50 work experience places for students from the two schools later this year.

Ola Jacob, BIBA’s London & South East’s Chair added:

“We are massively excited to do this and provide opportunities to local students who may have had no idea such opportunities even existed for them. We want to inspire these students and show them all the incredible opportunities that a career in insurance has to offer them.  Currently, the awareness levels of insurance careers are really low with these students, and we want to change that.”

The Careers & Enterprise Company was set up by the Government in 2015 to support schools and colleges in their delivery of modern careers education. Their mission is to help every young person find their best next step.

Jamie Fox, Enterprise Co-Ordinator, concluded:

“This structured delivery will result in valuable experiences for the target students, and the aim to develop sustainable school relationships is exactly what schools are looking for. This is an exciting opportunity for students to learn from local labour market information, and I’m looking forward to seeing students access the work experience placements.”

Watch the video here.

Content provided by the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA).