Written By Jack J Collins, Editor of AllAboutLaw.co.uk

Law firms set out on literacy mission

Written By Jack J Collins, Editor of AllAboutLaw.co.uk

Nine leading UK law firms have pledged to challenging the UK's literacy challenge, remove social boundaries and give the economy a lift by taking part in the National Literacy Forum's Vision for Literacy Business Pledge for this year.

With the Pledge now in it's second year of inception, there have been 51 signatories already on the document, including many of the UK's leading law firms .

Each of those who have signed the pledge have committed to raising literacy levels through three disparate areas: within their own workforce, across the local community, and as part of a nationwide literacy drive.

Research released this year by the CBI showed that more than a third of employers were dissatisfied with the literacy skills of young people, with more than 20% having to provide their own corrective training to school and college leavers whom they employ. Figures have suggested that if this is not addressed immediately, it could cost UK employers £32.1 billion by 2025.

The CBI's research, however, goes even further than this, showing that these literacy levels can stop the mobility for people trying to progress in the workplace. Those with good literacy skills earn up to 16% more than those without, and nearly 35% of adults in deprived areas of the UK lack the basic literacy skills which one would expect from an 11-year-old.

A number of the nine law firms were also inaugural signatories of the Vision for Literacy Business Pledge 2016, and have increased their commitment to literacy in the past year:

· Baker McKenzie held grammar training for staff members, ran an office lunchtime book club and continued a volunteer reading programme with a local school

· Slaughter and May have run weekly reading programmes with local primary schools since 2000 and support the National Literacy Trust’s flagship Young Readers Programme. The firm also funds the National Literacy Trust’s annual literacy survey of over 35,000 children and young people aged 8 to 18, the only one of its kind.

· Bird & Bird created an office book club to engage staff in literacy and volunteers from the firm make weekly visits to a local school for a reading club

· Norton Rose Fulbright invited local schoolchildren to visit their London office for World Book Day, who were read to by staff and given books to take home

· Travers Smith held a series of workshops, in partnership with Educating Matters, to equip its staff and partners with practical information on how to develop children’s reading and writing skills

· Allen & Overy invested in a creative writing project with its partner secondary school in London, which aims to reduce gaps in literacy, learning and attainment

Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust, stated: “Businesses play a vital part in helping improve literacy in the UK, increasing our economic competitiveness and improving social mobility. The UK’s low literacy levels are holding our economy back - if all children left primary school with good literacy skills, our future workforce and economy would be far stronger as a result. We’re delighted that so many leading law firms recognise the challenge the UK’s literacy levels pose and are taking practical action to tackle the problem on a national and local scale.”

Find out more about the Vision for Literacy Business Pledge here.

Blog