Meet our partners
As a What Works centre, we work collaboratively and in partnership to effect systems change. Meet our current partners below.
As a What Works centre, we work collaboratively and in partnership to effect systems change. Meet our current partners below.
Showing 83 partners
What Works: testing youth employment interventions ·
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ProgrammeWhat Works: testing youth employment interventions
StatusActive
IES is a leading independent centre for research and evidence-based consultancy in the UK. It specialises in employment, labour market and human resource policy and practice.
Its mission is to help bring about sustainable improvements in employment policy and human resource management by increasing the understanding and improving the practice of key decision makers in policy bodies and employing organisations.
ProgrammeBuilding Futures, What Works: testing youth employment interventions
StatusActive
Ipsos is one of the largest providers of research and evaluations in the UK across a range of public policy areas. It supports clients at the forefront of the most pressing and complex policy challenges currently affecting the UK and the world, taking pride in the full spectrum of evaluation services it offers that address these issues.
Programme
StatusActive
NatCen is Britain’s largest independent not-for-profit social research organisation, working collaboratively to generate evidence that uncovers the reality of people’s lives in the UK.
ProgrammeBuilding Futures
StatusActive
A global research and innovation consultancy which uses deep understanding of human behaviour to improve people’s lives.
We are working in partnership with the Behavioural Insights Team to conduct an evaluation of the demonstrator phase of our Building Futures programme.
ProgrammeWhat Works: testing youth employment interventions
StatusActive
The Youth Endowment Fund was established in March 2019 by children’s charity Impetus, with a £200m endowment and ten year mandate from the Home Office.
Its mission is to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this knowledge into practice.
It is part of the What Works Network, an initiative to improve the way government and other public sector organisations create, share and use high quality evidence in decision-making.
ProgrammeIncreasing apprenticeship supply
StatusActive
Workwhile is a small charity with a mission to create a more equitable world of work, working with employers to create more good work, and to ensure everyone can access it.
Apprenticeships are at the heart of Workwhile’s mission, and since 2020 they have created over 2,100 apprenticeships by supporting SMEs to navigate the apprenticeship system successfully.
In our Increasing Apprenticeship Supply partnership, we are working with Workwhile to increase the number of Level 2 and 3 apprenticeships through their SME Champion Providers programme, which equips training providers to better support SMEs.
This builds on our successful work together since 2022, where supported Workwhile to create apprenticeships for marginalised young people in London; to pilot the DevelopMentor programme of training for line managers; and to create a definition of good work for young people.
ProgrammeConnected Futures
LocationEast Midlands
StatusActive
D2N2 LEP supports economic growth across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire by connecting employers, education and government to promote investment, identifying unique opportunities for innovative partnership working. It is one of 30 Local Enterprise Partnerships working across England.
D2N2 is the lead partner for the East Midlands Connected Futures partnership.
CXK, a youth employment charity dedicated to transforming the lives of young people and adults across the South of England. It provides support, advice and guidance to help them find work, or move into learning or training.
CXK is the lead partner for the Hastings Connected Futures partnership.
ProgrammeConnected Futures
LocationBurnley
StatusActive
Calico Enterprise – part of the Calico Housing Group – works in communities through colleges, and with local businesses to provide a host of training activities, vocational skills, adult education and employability programmes.
Calico Enterprise is the lead partner for the Burnley Connected Futures partnership.
ProgrammeConnected Futures
LocationHull
StatusActive
The Warren Youth Project supports young people to take control of their lives and become their best selves by helping them to develop the skills that can make it happen.
It is the lead partner for the Hull Connected Futures Partnership.
MEaP (Making Education a Priority) is a consortium of organistions focused on addressing barriers in education for Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities across Greater Manchester.
It provides additional educational support and safe spaces for young people to learn, offering revision support and tutoring, career guidance, skills development and opportunities to celebrate their cultural heritage and community involvement. MEaP also offers programmes specifically designed for 18-24 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).
As part of our Evidence into Action programme, the charity plans to pilot an on and off-the-job training programme for 16-24 year olds, strengthening and developing employer partnerships across the digital, technology and creative industries. This will be a new aspect to its work, linking expertise in education to the world of employment.
Ultra Education believes every young person should have the chance to turn their passion into a future career. All children should do what they love, regardless of their socioeconomic background and have access to an entrepreneurial education. Talent is everywhere we look, however, opportunities are not.
Ultra Education’s mission is to empower Black and marginalised communities to create their own opportunities, opening doors to paid work placements and breaking the cycle of exclusion. Since 2015, Ultra Education has supported over 15,000 young people in developing entrepreneurial skills, launching over 1,000 youth-led businesses and providing access to work experience.
As part of our Evidence into Action programme, the charity will pilot an evidence-based off-the-job training programme to support young people into the fundraising sector. This will involve digital fundraising, bid writing, event fundraising, and community consultation, equipping young people with transferable entrepreneurial skills for self-employment—an area of growing interest among the young people they support.
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