A £15m programme to design and deliver targeted support for young people aged 13-16 at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training (NEET).
The challenge
Our research indicates that school attendance, exclusion and low attainment at GCSE are factors associated with a higher risk of becoming NEET.
Our aim is to increase engagement in education and training post-16, to reduce young people’s likelihood of being NEET at 18. To help address this, we need to know more about the kinds of approaches that are effective for supporting 13 to 16-year-olds and reducing their risk of becoming NEET.
Currently, there is limited evidence on what works to improve employment outcomes for young people in this age group, especially in England. This is why we are developing and testing a robust, high-quality model of targeted support.
What we’re doing
As the What Works Centre for youth employment, we conduct high-quality research and collaborate to put that into action in evidence-informed policy and practice.
Launched in 2024, the Building Futures programme will support at least 5,000 young people between 2024 and 2029, with evaluation continuing until 2033.
In our test and learn phase, we are delivering a mentoring offer to up to 500 young people to test and refine key delivery parameters and identify an appropriate intervention model. This phase runs until December 2026.
Will use the insights and learning from the test and learn to inform the development, design and specification of an impact evaluation.
Building Futures builds on our Youth Employment Toolkit, expanding and refining our understanding of different interventions and their effectiveness in a variety of contexts.
