Collections firms: How CSA Apprenticeships can help overcome your post-Covid business challenges

As the UK trade body for the collections and debt purchase sector, part of the Credit Services Association’s (CSA) role is to help member firms continuously improve standards and professionalism through relevant and high quality learning and development, including apprenticeships.

As we emerge from the Coronavirus pandemic, we know that collections firms face some common challenges which we believe could be addressed at least in part by working with us to implement our specialist apprenticeship programmes in credit, collections, compliance, counter fraud, and debt advice. We have a track record of delivering apprenticeships from entry level to degree level which enable employers large and small from the public and private sectors to up-skill or re-skill existing or new employees in these business-critical areas, and believe all our members could be benefitting from this expertise to make themselves ‘fit for the future’ post-Covid, at little-to-no-cost to their organisations.

Business challenge 1: The cost of compliance and risk mitigation

As the cost of compliance increases (as explored in our recent report), having the right people with the right skills to manage and mitigate risks within your organisation is becoming more and more important. In fact, from our initial survey of sector firms, it appears that in staffing terms, the proportion of resource involved seems to trend generally to between 15% and 25% of all staff.

Compliance-based apprenticeships are a highly cost-effective way to up-skill your compliance and wider teams by giving them a ‘bigger picture’ understanding of how to meet regulatory obligations effectively and efficiently, including ensuring they are able to keep their finger on the pulse of the ever-changing environment (see this case study on how this has benefitted the Government’s Animal & Plant Health Agency). And when it comes to mitigating risks, CSA Apprenticeships don’t require any compromise – up-skilling your people helps to manage a whole host of risks and there’s very little, if any, financial risk involved.

Business challenge 2: Recruiting and training the next generation of talent

Given the current economic climate, many of our member firms are currently growing their teams or at least planning for future growth, and finding and attracting the next generation of talent into the collections sector is a major concern, despite other areas of industry being badly hit by the pandemic.

Apprenticeships offer a vocational, work-based opportunity to carve a successful career pathway in financial services for those who are otherwise unable to access the industry. Being able to gain a nationally-recognised, industry-led, relevant, specialist qualification while earning has never been more appealing to candidates of all ages and skill levels. Using Apprenticeship Levy funds to create an ‘apprentice-first’ recruitment strategy will not only attract more people into the industry/your firm but could also potentially save huge amounts of time and money in both the short and longer term.

Business challenge 3: Building financial and operational resilience

Whether you are an Apprenticeship Levy paying organisation or not, by not engaging with apprenticeships, you are missing out on the opportunity to maximise ring-fenced funds which are otherwise just being lost as another ‘tax’. On top of the Levy itself, there are also significant Government incentives for taking on new apprentices which other organisations in other sectors are taking advantage of. The business case for offering apprenticeships, particularly in the business-critical areas that we specialise in, is a ‘no brainer’, and any perceived barriers in terms of administrative resource/cost or ‘off the job’ training down-time are usually much less onerous than imagined.

Having a long-term plan in place for utilising Apprenticeship Levy funds to build financial and operational resilience has multiple benefits with very few downsides. So, if your FD is asking where Levy funds are going, we can help with an answer that will make commercial sense. Read this CSA apprenticeship case study for an example of tangible organisational impact in the financial services sector.

Business challenge 4: Demonstrating social value

Whether it’s a public sector tender, meeting regulatory responsibilities, becoming an ‘employer of choice’, or just a desire to ‘do the right thing’, demonstrating the social value and impact of your work as a collections firm can be a challenge. One tangible way to do it is through apprenticeships. In fact, public sector organisations have to meet apprenticeship targets for that very reason – to demonstrate their commitment to social mobility – and will expect firms to do the same. As an added bonus, firms can reap the rewards of highly skilled apprentices from a financial perspective as well, meaning that social and commercial goals are aligned.

Business challenge 5: Increasing employee engagement and productivity

One of the biggest challenges we are all likely to face post-pandemic is maintaining employee engagement and boosting productivity levels as we get used to the ‘new normal’. As employees return to the workplace, many may feel that their personal development has been forgotten. The opportunity to gain a qualification as part of a successful career pathway in the profession may be just the boost they need to stay engaged and motivated – and employers tend to benefit from increased productivity and better retention.

Find out more about CSA Apprenticeships here: www.csa-uk.com/apprenticeships.