Our flagship £20 million fund supports young people to find and sustain good work through pioneering local partnerships.
The challenge
One in eight young people in the UK are not in employment, education or training (NEET). In places like Blackpool and Burnley, rates of youth unemployment are twice as high as in neighbouring areas.
Explore our 2023 report Risk factors for being NEET among young people for more information.
The opportunity
Reducing the NEET rate to that of the Netherlands – where only one in 20 young people are not in employment or education – would not only ensure young people themselves are able to achieve a better future, but could also add £69 billion to the UK economy over the long term.
What are we doing?
Young people told us what they need – the right employment support from the right place at the right time to help them into the right jobs for them.
This means a coherent and connected system that puts their needs, strengths and ambitions at the centre and helps them achieve their goals.
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 2022, our Connected Futures programme works with local partners across England to develop and test new approaches to breaking down barriers and improving access to employment for young people from marginalised backgrounds.
Each local partnership works with young people within their place and local context to:
- explore the challenges young people face, and where support is missing across the system;
- co-design options to create meaningful change;
- mobilise local stakeholders around a shared ambition for change.
We are supporting each of our partnerships to progress through three distinct phases of developing a model or approach to deliver systemic change. These are:
- Discovery and exploration of the issue
- Developing and testing solutions
- Implementation, delivery and evaluation of a systemic intervention
From Blackpool to Brent, young people and Connected Futures partnerships are beginning to explore possible solutions, such as helping to develop a curriculum that helps young people get ready for work or changing how employers recruit.
As we move into the next year of the programme, we’re excited to start testing their ideas.
“The future of work for young people isn’t about one-size-fits-all solutions. Through Connected Futures we’re able to work with organisations and young people in places and within their local context, to co-create impactful local solutions that will help create systems change, for a thriving youth employment landscape.
“It’s been exciting to see young people take the lead across the Connected Futures programme, and we know this is already changing how local decision-makers think about the issue of youth employment.”
Louise Rands, Head of Programmes – Connected Futures
Systems mapping and shared learning
Together with Ipsos and the University of Birmingham we have produced a detailed analysis of the local labour market and available funding for youth employment and skills.
Renaisi, our Learning Partner for the exploratory phase of the programme, has helped partnerships identify and investigate the questions that matter to young people in each place. Insights from the workshops have been brought together in the Connected Futures systems ‘iceberg’ to present a big picture view of the factors and root causes that influence youth unemployment.
Who are we working with?
Calico Enterprise Ltd
Calico Enterprise Ltd
Led by Calico Enterprise, part of the Calico Housing Group, and including Participation Works and the University of Central Lancashire. There are links to the Burnley Bondholder group of local employers.
The partnership aims to explore why young people in Burnley, especially those with Bangladeshi or Pakistani heritage, long term unemployed or with experience of the care system are not getting jobs in the town’s growing tech sector and other growth / vacancy sectors.
CXK
CXK
CXK, a youth employment charity, lead this Connected Futures partnership with Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex County Council.
The partnership is focused understanding the experience of young people aged 14+ who are already NEET or at risk of becoming NEET, especially in wards with higher rates of youth unemployment. A Young Person Research Group is central to the research as agents of change.
D2N2 LEP
D2N2 LEP
This Connected Futures partnership is led by D2N2 LEP, which supports economic growth across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, with Direct Education Business Partnership (DEBP), a specialist education and employability provider, and Nottinghamshire County Council.
Hamara
Hamara
Working within the community sector, Hamara delivers several strands of work including Youth Activities, and Education, Employment and Training Programmes. Hamara will lead a project to tackle workplace discrimination and support employment opportunities for young people with Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage living in Leeds and Bradford.
Humber Learning Consortium
Humber Learning Consortium
This partnership is led by Humber Learning Consortium, working with The Warren, a youth-led charity, and Hull City Council.
The partnership is focused on understanding the mismatch between the high level of vacancies in the city and the high number of young people who are NEET. The Thing, The Warren’s Youth Parliament has directive oversight of the project and young people will form a team of peer researchers.
London Borough of Lewisham Council
London Borough of Lewisham Council
North London Partnership Consortium Limited
North London Partnership Consortium Limited
North London Partnership Consortium Limited (NLPC Ltd), is a black-led, not-for-profit organisation committed to the regeneration and renewal of communities by unlocking the potential of local people through accredited training, employability support and enterprise development programmes.
Working on the Brighter Futures Project with NLPC Ltd is Mind in Haringey, Harris Academy and Haringey Council. The project will bring stakeholders across the area together, including schools, employers, providers and young people trained as peer researchers, to explore the barriers to delivery of high quality, locally relevant careers support in schools.
Right to Succeed
Right to Succeed
The Blackpool Connected Futures Partnership is led by Right to Succeed, a charity seeking to promote collective solutions for young people, and includes Blackpool Football Club Community Trust, Blackpool Council, Blackpool and the Fylde College and Business in the Community.
The partnership is undertaking place-based research to understand local community experience of the education and employment support system in Blackpool, and to inform the transformation of services for NEET and at risk of NEET young people in Blackpool.
Young Brent Foundation
Young Brent Foundation
The Flourishing Futures partnership is led by Young Brent Foundation, which supports black and community-led organisations working with young people in Brent, and includes Spark!, a youth employment charity, Brent Council and three housing associations (MTVH, Hyde and Catalyst Housing).
Flourishing Futures is focused on three estates in Brent which have a majority Black population and high levels of youth unemployment despite strong academic attainment.
Discover more
Explore the ‘Iceberg’ model
A big-picture view of the factors and root causes that influence youth unemployment.
Contact the Grants Team
If you have any questions about our grants programme, please contact the grants team.
