Basic skills training delivered as part of an active labour market programme to young people aged 16 to 24 provides valuable underpinning for entry and progression in work and learning, and can be particularly effective in supporting apprenticeship participation.
Last updated: 26 August 2026
Low positive impact
Well supported
Medium positive impact
Consolidating
Low positive impact
Emerging
Moderate - likely to require some intense, complex or specific resource needs for effective delivery
For every 100 young people who are NEET and take part in basic skills training as a component of a targeted youth employment intervention, around 3 additional young people are in employment 12 to 24 months later compared to similar young people who did not take part. This component could increase recent employment by around 3 percentage points.
Headline insights about this component based on current high-quality evidence, where basic skills training is delivered as part of an active labour market programme to young people aged 16 to 24.
Positive
Basic skills training is associated with an increase in the number of hours that employed young people spend in work, and in the length of time for which they are employed.
Positive
Young people who have engaged in basic skills training are more likely to participate in an apprenticeship, which in turn can increase employability
The research finds 50% probability of ‘high positive’ impact on apprenticeship participation.
Subgroup analysis
Impacts may be higher for young people aged 16 to 18, with benefits reducing in proportion to age up to 24.
Basic skills training focuses on improving foundational literacy, numeracy, and digital skills to help young people transition between and engage more effectively in education, training, or employment.
Data in the Toolkit relates to basic skills training as an element of a youth employment programme and not to “having basic skills” or to basic skills provision as part of general education (e.g. GCSEs).
Basic skills training is often targeted towards young people who may have had limited formal education or for whom skills gaps remain after they have left school, to help them engage or re-engage in work and learning.
Young people who have not acquired these skills and/or associated qualifications during their compulsory education may enter this kind of training as part of a ‘second chance’ programme that helps them to gain both skills and qualifications.
Any UK organisation — business, charity, public-sector body or social enterprise — that meets legal requirements such as:
Most basic skills training lasts a few weeks, or occupies a small number of hours within a larger programme.
Funding may come from diverse sources or from a mixture of sources including:
Basic skills can support individuals to:
Indirectly, it may help young people:
Basic skills training can support employers to:
Calculations are based on insights from available high-quality studies on the complexity of delivery requirements and estimated associated costs.
Based on existing evidence, we’ve identified some common features that support the commissioning, design and delivery of effective youth employment programmes:
Design, fund and deliver outreach and recruitment activities that raise young people’s awareness, with targeted initiatives to reach under-represented group who are most likely to benefit.
This might include:
Discover more about risk factors associated with being NEET.
Also consider how best to identify and engage the most suitable partners and employers for a programme. Engagement should be timely and clear, in ways that raise awareness and facilitate recruitment, enrolment, and sustained engagement.
Effective programmes may use direct community outreach activities for engaging under-served groups, alongside up-to-date local and administrative data, working with public employment services, or advertising vacancies along with eligibility criteria.
Design, fund and deliver programmes that use a range of approaches to help learners overcome external barriers and integrate learning into their lives.
This might include:
Some programmes embed elements of basic skills learning within vocational learning.
A strong relationship between policymakers, learning providers, employers, community organisations and local skills delivery organisations including Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Local Skills Improvement Plan areas supports effective youth employment support programmes.
Design, fund and deliver programmes that foster collaboration with education providers such as colleges to improve access to relevant teaching experience.
Support providers and delivery organisations to accurately and systematically capture and communicate data and milestones and track programme outcomes. This may include structured and standardised tracking forms, or developing realistic programme-specific performance frameworks.
For funders and commissioners – ensure recorded data, reporting and assessment captures a full range of appropriate and relevant youth employment and related outcomes to help rich understanding to ensure rich picture of what programmes do.
Encouraging reporting commonly recognised metrics allows evaluation to be easily comparable and included in the growing evidence base.
Design, fund and deliver programmes that:
| Included studies | 45 |
|---|---|
| Location(s) | High-income countries |
| Outcome | Labour force status, earnings, employment duration, hours worked, and education & skills |
| Comparator | 'Services as usual' |
The Youth Employment Toolkit brings together evidence from robust studies in high-income countries that:
Find details of individual studies, as well as other systematic reviews of youth employment evaluations, in the Youth Employment Evidence and Gap Map.
More information about included studies can be found in page 55-60 of the full CNMA report. The specific evidence profile for basic skills training can be found on page 66.
The evidence strength ratings for basic skills training reflect the number of studies included in the meta-analysis. Studies were scored on reported design, sample size, approach to attrition, and definitions of interventions and outcome measures. More detail can be found in the technical guide.
The Toolkit does not include basic skills training where:
This evidence summary does NOT relate to the impacts of having basic skills at a particular level.
The current evidence can be strengthened by taking a consistent approach to incorporating standardised metrics for education, employment and training outcomes as well as outcomes that indicate work quality.
If you have feedback or a question about the Toolkit, please get in touch.
