Squaring the Circle
This project investigates how we can promote financial security and wellbeing at a time of declining living standards and constrained public spending.
It looks at the role that non-state actors can play in driving financial literacy, promoting the take-up of products that boost financial security and highlighting the everyday financial risks to which we are all exposed. It builds on our report Of Mutual Benefit which highlighted the relatively low levels of financial security amongst British workers.
Project structure
The project will comprise four think-pieces, each looking at different actors, to be discussed at a series of roundtables in early 2013. These will feed in to a final report later in the year.
The think-pieces will look at each of the following actors:
• Employers
• Policy makers
• Employees
• Other key stakeholders, including trade unions and disability groups
Duty of Care
The first think-piece, entitled Duty of Care, was published to launch the project. It recommends Government and civil society take action to reduce the potential bureaucratic, administrative and financial burdens for small businesses that wish to help employees ensure their long-term financial protection.
It also builds on research from the Harvard Business Review and GRiD which show the positive returns for employers – in terms of productivity, morale, skills retention and long-term wage costs – of taking an interest in the financial security of employees.
For more information on this project, contact Max Wind-Cowie.