We are seeking support as government consults on the expansion of the Dormant Assets Scheme, releasing £738 million for social and environmental causes in England. This is a significant opportunity to secure more money for youth employment.
However, there is no guarantee that the cause of youth employment will receive further funding, since the consultation is open and is receiving views on a range of causes for future spend.
Funded through dormant assets, Youth Futures Foundation was set up in 2019 to improve the youth employment system and reduce the number of young NEET people in England. We find, design, fund and evaluate the best frontline delivery and systemic change initiatives, so that we can scale up what we learn at a national level, ensuring public money has maximum impact.
The challenge
Despite youth unemployment reaching its lowest ever level, it is unacceptable that one in eight young people remain not in employment or fulltime education. Two thirds of these young people are classed as ‘economically inactive’ – meaning that they are not looking or available for work. The impact of the pandemic on young people’s mental health is contributing to this, against a backdrop of the escalating cost of living.
The opportunity
Our recent research with PwC shows that if we could reduce the UK’s NEET rate to the levels found in Germany, it would benefit our GDP by £38 billion. Ensuring young people can get into work, and stay in work, will be vital to our national recovery, growth prospects and addressing the chronic workforce shortage employers face.
How is Youth Futures tackling youth unemployment?
- Allocated £20.8m to 153 organisations
- 7 places in our multi-million pound Connected Futures programme
- 17,575 young people supported
- Published a Youth Employment Evidence and Gap Map, summarising 658 studies in the world’s largest evidence resource on improving youth skills, employment and job quality
- Commissioned the largest range of youth employment evaluations in England
- The UK’s 10th full What Works Centre
- Mobilised the youth employment sector by co-founding the Youth Employment Group (YEG), bringing together over 300 experts to advocate for full and inclusive employment for young people
- Established the Ethnic Disparities sub-group of the YEG, that has 40+ members and will soon publish new research, data and analysis
- Partnered with CIPD to publish best practice guides to recruit and retain young people in employment, reaching over 250,000 employers
What would Youth Futures do with additional investment?
We have made significant achievements since we were established in 2019. By the end of 2022, our multi-year programmes, worth 72% (£79m) of our £110m funding, will continue until 2027. However, we have just started our journey and there is plenty to do to fulfil our long-term vision of improving employment outcomes for young people from marginalised backgrounds at a time of unprecedented and ongoing economic disruption.
Further funding means we could scale up opportunities to improve how employment support works. We would target longer-term investment at frontline and place-based programmes, interventions that prevent young people becoming NEET in the first place, and in employer behaviour change initiatives. It will allow us to use the evidence to improve how young people prepare for and contribute to the labour market through sustained engagement across our stakeholders.
How can I support the cause of youth employment during the Dormant Assets Scheme consultation?
The consultation is now open and will close on 9 October 2022. We need your support to secure more investment to get young people from marginalised backgrounds into good jobs. Visit https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-english-portionof-dormant-assets-funding to submit your response .
