Building the foundations: supporting young people in employment

The Young People and Work Review is developing solutions to the rising numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Its interim report argues that a new, more coherent system of participation is required to meet the scale of this challenge.

This paper focuses on a group of young people who are often the furthest from opportunity. While much of the debate around youth unemployment focuses on labour market interventions, the experiences of many young people in Action for Children’s services demonstrates that participation often depends on first addressing a much wider set of challenges.

This paper draws on practitioner expertise, lived experience and examples of promising practice by providers and employers to explore how support systems can better meet the needs of young people facing the greatest barriers to participation.

Based on qualitative research with practitioners supporting young people facing complex barriers to participation, we have identified six core principles to help guide policy and practice:

1. It’s all about relationships. Building strong relationships is the foundation of effective support, creating the conditions for trust, safety and ongoing engagement.
   
2. Support must be person-centred, holistic and trauma-informed. Support should respond to the full range of factors affecting young people’s lives and recognise how their experiences shape their behaviour and impact their aspirations.
   
3. Build the foundations first before focusing on employment. Addressing the fundamentals of finances, housing, confidence-building, practical and soft skill development often needs to come first before participation in education, training or employment is realistic.
   
4. Value the journey, not just the destination. Success for these young people will not always be a job or qualification, the distance travelled can be just as meaningful.
   
5. Create meaningful opportunities for participation. Support should be paired with opportunities to build confidence and skills through real-world experience.
   
6. Provide support for as long as needed. Short-term, time-limited interventions are insufficient. Young people need ongoing support to sustain participation through setbacks and transitions.

• Devolve multi-year funding settlements to support local participation ecosystems.
• Expand the Youth Guarantee nationwide for 16-24 year olds, with specific support for young people facing the greatest barriers to participation. Extend eligibility for the Jobs Guarantee and Youth Jobs Grant to young people receiving disability benefits.
• Develop a Youth Participation Framework for employers supported by incentives and guidance to increase participation opportunities for disadvantaged young people.
• Require all professionals that support young people to undertake trauma-informed training.
• Strengthen the evidence base through greater use of the Employment Data Lab and local capacity-building through the new What Works Centre for Local Employment Support.