The Rapid Recovery Challenge was a £3 million Challenge delivered in partnership with JPMorgan Chase Foundation and Money and Pensions Service. It was funded by Nesta. It aimed to support the millions of workers in the UK who have been affected by the economic shock resulting from COVID-19. There were two distinct streams to the Challenge – job recovery and financial recovery.
The job recovery stream 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.
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.
Our winner for the job stream was Udrafter. Udrafter is an online marketplace where businesses can access student and graduate talent on-demand and students are paid to complete degree relevant micro-internships which provide them with crucial work experience.
Beam’s solution is the creation of digital tools and a digital Hub for disadvantaged job-seekers to give them quicker, clearer access to the knowledge, confidence, and contacts that will help them to secure stable work. This service will complement our existing crowdfunding service.
“We currently work with people who are over the age of 18 and are either homeless, recently homeless (within the last 12 months) or at risk of homelessness. Our service and the tools we provide help support people back into independent work.”
“Our tool promotes positivity throughout. Lack of confidence emerged as a huge barrier in our research. To combat this, all resources and scripts use an upbeat tone and design. We continually emphasise connections between them and inspiring success stories of past Beam users. Users exchange messages of encouragement through their Hubs, further bolstering this community feel.”
Evenbreak‘s Career Hive offers relevant and accessible careers support for disabled people who are looking for new or better work. Delivered by careers professionals with lived experience of disability, candidates can access bespoke careers coaching, attend events, find resources and search for jobs on an inclusive job board.
“If you are disabled, have a long-term health condition, or face barriers that other candidates are unlikely to when looking for work, the Career Hive is for you. There are no complicated eligibility criteria (if you face disabling barriers when looking for work, that’s it!) and no prescribed services (the service you receive is built around your individual needs).”
“Feedback shows us that our candidates love that the support is tailored to their specific needs, and delivered by people who really understand the barriers they face.”
Udrafter is an online marketplace where businesses can access student and graduate talent on-demand and students are paid to complete degree relevant micro-internships which provide them with crucial work experience.
“Our tool is for young people studying or recently graduated from higher education at college or university in the UK. People should use Udrafter as it empowers students and graduates by offering them the possibility to gain industry experience while completing their studies and getting paid.”
“Apart from getting a fair wage for the work that they do, I think their favourite thing is that they can put into practice the skills they have learned on their course and have valuable demonstrable experience on their CV which employers rate highly.”
Alongside the Challenge we worked with The Social Market Foundation to learn as much as we can from our innovators and the wider finance and employment landscape. We 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.
