Earning + Learning helps young people who are both in education and working to learn about their working rights. The campaign was co-created by an Expert Advisory Board of young people (ages 17-23) who are both working and going to school, college or university. The members of the Expert Advisory Board shared their first-hand experience in a wide range of student work, including part-time and zero-hours. Their insights were used at every stage of the co-creation process and helped identify the most pressing issues working students face today. The students highlighted gaps in existing support and focused on creating a genuinely empowering campaign for their fellow working students.

Earning + Learning was developed with researchers from the University of Leeds, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Young Women’s Trust (YWT) and the National Union of Students (NUS).

The team from the University of Leeds is led by Professor Kim Allen, who also led the research project this campaign has grown from. L-earning: rethinking young women’s working lives was a 3-year research study exploring the working experiences of women aged 14 to 29. One of the findings was that young people would really like to know more about their rights at work, but that they do not know how to find trusted information on the topic. Dr Lilith Brouwers coordinated and developed the Earning + Learning campaign to help with this issue.

The TUC represents more than 5.3 million working people in 47 unions across the economy. They campaign for more and better jobs, a better working life for everyone, and they support trade unions to grow and thrive. TUC has a long and proud history of promoting equality for all its members, and strives to end all forms of discrimination, bigotry and stereotyping. The TUC helps workers to know their rights, and highlights the importance of young workers knowing their rights especially.  They also provide in depth information on the changes in worker rights that are happening because of the Employment Rights Act (2025).

Young Women’s Trust champions young women on low or no pay. They’re here to create a more equal world of work and raise young women’s incomes. The Young Women’s Trust offers coaching and support to build young women’s knowledge, networks and self-belief. They carry out research into what young women’s lives are really like and use this evidence to campaign for equality.

National Union of Students is the student-led representative body of more than 4 million university students, college student and apprentices in the UK. Working with 400 member students’ unions, NUS runs campaigns to achieve national change for students.

This project was funded by the University of Leeds Impact Accelerator Award. The research that this campaign originated from, the L-earning: rethinking young women’s working lives project, was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and led by Kim Allen and Kate Hardy at the University of Leeds, Rachel Cohen at City St George’s University of London, and Kirsty Finn at the University of Manchester.