Local funding flows for youth employment and skills

Overview

We commissioned the University of Birmingham’s City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI) to identify, describe and map the flows of national, sub-national, local and international sources of funding to 10 Connected Futures areas for young people’s employment and skills in England, with a particular focus on funding targeting marginalised young people aged 14 to 24.

The research involved:

1. a desk review of existing studies and data covering almost 60 funding sources relating to young people for national employment and skills related schemes or services.
2. interviews with key stakeholders in each local area, including Connected Futures partners and infrastructure and delivery organisations.

This research was conducted between 2023 and 2025, with findings reflecting the context up to and during this period.

The resulting report:

• summarises findings across the 10 detailed case studies to identify key challenges faced by local organisations in securing funding for youth employment and skills activities.
• examines the relevance of existing funding available in the local areas for the outputs and outcomes desired locally from employment and skills activity for young people.
• explores the use of evaluation in current and recent employment and skills projects.
• reviews how young people are involved in identifying and developing funding bids for youth employment and skills projects.
• assesses the implications of the findings for future funding and delivery.