Launching today, the ‘Closer to Work’ report explores new ways that ‘written off’ young people with health conditions could be supported into work. Employment charity Shaw Trust commissioned the research, which was conducted by youth consultancy Livity. Focusing on the 600,000 UK NEET young people with health conditions who are often ‘hidden’ from services, the report identifies practical solutions to find them, engage them and help them move towards work. The charity is launching a programme called Reframe in West London to test this new approach with 200 young people.
The report found that:
· These young people aren’t using public services: they don’t go to job centres, or even GPs
· They’re disengaged: they’re not ready for work experience or employment support programmes
· They want to hear from Gen Z workers who can inspire them.
· They lack trust: support needs to build it, along with confidence and resilience (reliability, punctuality, communication, professional conduct).
· Employers need to step-in: low-pressure “micro” introductions like one or two days work-shadowing is key
· They want to work, but they’re anxious and uncertain: lack of readiness should not be mistaken for a lack of ambition or ability
· Support needs to show clear, immediate value through their eyes and on their terms, using varied, social and engaging formats
· The solution is highly bespoke: combining resilience and employment coaching, with supportive peer-to-peer connections, drop-in fun skills sessions and micro-introductions to employer
· Progression needs to be the aim at this stage – so they are ready to move onto formal employment support, work experience programmes like Movement to Work, or even a job
Published as Alan Milburn addresses the Resolution Foundation on how business can be incentivised to take on more young people, the research tackles a critical question at the heart of the youth inactivity crisis: how to support young people with mental and/or physical health conditions who are far from the labour market and often on benefits.
Milburn’s recent interim report highlighted a ‘promising model’ of work and health support for young people: Individual Placement and Support (IPS), which places employment specialists in health clinical teams, and has a strong body of international evidence demonstrating its effectiveness. Shaw Trust’s own IPS programmes see 50% of young people aged 16-24 move into work, while 75% report improved wellbeing.
But Shaw Trust’s ‘Closer to Work’ report found that many of the ‘written off’ young people they spoke to needed more help before a programme like IPS could work for them: “Across discussions, young people…described gaps in emotional, practical, work and life readiness, as well as real-world skills needed for today’s job market – all underpinned by a wider sense of not having the tools to navigate adulthood. As one stakeholder put it, “No one has written the how‑to‑be‑an‑adult handbook yet.””
Based on the report’s findings and years of experience in working with young people, Shaw Trust are launching ‘Reframe’, an innovative pilot to test a new solution for this problem. Reframe will provide 200 ‘written off’ young people in West London with bespoke support combining resilience and employment coaching, supportive peer-to-peer connections, drop-in fun skills sessions and micro-introductions to employer. Working one-to-one with young people, the project will help them progress so that they are ready to move onto formal employment support such as IPS, work experience programmes like Movement to Work, or even a job.
Julie Leonard, Chief Impact Officer at Shaw Trust, said: “To support the one million young people who are NEET, we will need a huge number of employers to sign up to help young people understand the world of work. For those who are “work ready”, that means an entry level job or an apprenticeship. But for those who are far from the labour market, especially with a health barrier, we need shorter, less-pressurised introductions to work. This could be simple 3-hour work shadowing opportunities, which SMEs can provide. As a charity, we will help prepare that young person to participate so that the process is of mutual value for employers’ staff. Government and business associations will need to step in as well to enable this type of work experience to scale. We need to recruit more employers to the cause and ensure that this group of young people is not left behind.”
Alex Goat, CEO of Livity, said: “At Livity, we always start by listening to young people. What they told us was clear: they want to work, but many need support to rebuild confidence, trust and readiness before they can take that next step. Shaw Trust, have used those insights to co-design a model around what young people told us would actually help. This isn’t a solution designed for young people; it’s one designed with them. If we’re serious about helping the 600,000 young people with health conditions who are currently missing from the labour market, we need to start with what they say works.”
The Reframe programme will be trialled over the next year with plans to extend.
For more information, visit Impact – Shaw Trust
