Broader Programmes
14 September 2020
Improving access to jobs and money in the wake of COVID-19
Millions of workers in the UK have been affected by the economic shock resulting from COVID-19; it has impacted their employment status, career prospects and financial stability. The Rapid Recovery Challenge aimed to support these people, many of whom were already out of work or were at high risk of losing their jobs due to COVID-19. The £3 million Challenge was funded by Nesta, in partnership with JPMorgan Chase Foundation and Money and Pensions Service.
When we launched the Challenge in September 2020, COVID-19 had created a huge economic shock, laying bare and exacerbating pre-existing problems for people on low incomes and in precarious work. Millions faced severe threats to their job security and household finances, both immediately and in the longer term, and low-paid workers, people in insecure roles and those under 25 were hit hardest.
With the UK officially in recession, economic recovery was a major challenge. There was an urgent need to support people at risk of losing their livelihoods and financial security so that millions did not find themselves out of work, out of pocket and out of prospects.
The Rapid Recovery Challenge aimed to find, inspire and accelerate innovations relating to jobs and financial recovery that will support one million people across the UK.
There were two distinct streams to the Challenge – job recovery and financial recovery. Find out more about each of the streams below.
Focused on helping low-paid workers or those in insecure work, who were struggling financially to access much needed finances through a variety of means.
Focused on those who were either unable to find or who had lost work due to the pandemic with an aim to connect them to desirable open jobs.
The Challenge was launched in September 2020, with the aim of providing support to three key groups who had been most negatively impacted by the pandemic: younger workers (aged 16 to 24); those in or who have recently lost low-paid work (defined as earning less than £18,252 a year); those in(or who have recently lost insecure work.
In December 2020, 14 semi-finalists (seven in each stream) each received £125k. In May 2021, six finalists (three in each stream) each received £150k. In September 2021, two winners (one in each stream) each received £200k.
Alongside the funding we also provided non-financial support in the form of communications and media strategy, human centred design, end user testing, business and scaling strategy all delivered by best in class partner organisations.
We also supported our innovators to scale by forming the Rapid Recovery Network and by funding three community outreach organisations (Big Issue, Do It Now Now and Youth Federation) to share tools directly to their audiences.
The Challenge was funded by Nesta, J.P.Morgan, the Money & Pensions Service and the Department for Work & Pensions.
Hear about the six finalist tools for a Rapid Recovery from Challenge Works.
Over the course of the Challenge we have seen innovators develop their tools and solutions to better fit the needs of the target audience – creating online hubs and hives to make services accessible to wider audiences and utilising open banking and nudge technology to support those experiencing financial hardship. All of the innovator’s solutions had humans and useability at their heart. Often they blended innovative digital elements with innovation in communication and human contact to develop messaging services, robust peer networking practices and individual case worker support. Our six finalist innovators have helped 63,329 individuals with their solutions.
With this Challenge, a major focus was scaling to a specific target audience (the three key groups mentioned earlier) in sprint mode over a few short months in the midst of COVID-19 – no mean feat. One of the measures we took to support our innovators to scale was to form a Network, bringing together ~90 organisations of all shapes and sizes each with distinct links to our target audience groups, to help us get the tools into the hands of people who needed them most. The Network was a pilot model and we were pleasantly surprised by the results which saw us matching innovators with organisations across the country.
We’ve written about the Network, its members and our learnings here. This was the first of it’s kind for Challenge Works but an element we are keen to explore for future Challenges.
Alongside the Challenge we have been working with The Social Market Foundation to learn as much as we can from our innovators and the wider finance and employment landscape. We’ve co-produced a learning and key recommendations document which we hope will support those looking to innovate further (be that in government or elsewhere) in the area of finance and employment particularly with vulnerable audiences such as those on the Rapid Recovery Challenge. Visit our blog which summarises the report or download the full report via the link below.
