NATIONAL YOUTH AGENCY (NYA) – WRITTEN EVIDENCE (YUN0016)

Youth Unemployment Committee inquiry

NYA is the professional, statutory and regulatory body (PSRB) for youth work in England. Our guidance throughout Covid-19 includes the whole of the youth sector - statutory services and voluntary provision – and as the national body for quality standards, qualifications, training, safeguarding and research. This includes youth workers, volunteers and related professions in support of youth services and out of school activities.

A youth work response

Youth work is a distinct form of education that is complementary to schools and colleges, supported by a youth work curriculum and pedagogy which focuses on personal and social development, designed to support young people through adolescence, typically from 8 to 25 years of age. It provides the basis of skills for life and work, and mental and physical wellbeing. The government’s Civil Society Strategy describes youth work as ‘transformational’ and trained youth workers as making a ‘valuable difference’. Through Covid-19, youth services are seen to be ‘essential services’ and qualified youth workers designated as ‘key workers’.

In March 2021, NYA published ‘Outside, Looking In’ as a joint report with Youth Employment UK, one of the leading experts on youth employment and unemployment in the UK. This reviewed the evidence and lived experience of young people, and published key recommendations in the face of unprecedented challenges of youth unemployment through the pandemic and Covid-recovery; with an understanding of the impact not just economically but socially, now and in the future economy, and for those young people furthest from the labour market. For disadvantaged young people in particular, a youth work approach helps young people stay connected with a sense of belonging and community involvement, supported into jobs and training and through periods of underemployment. See report: Outside, Looking In

Q1. What are the main challenges facing young people seeking employment today? How do structural factors impact youth unemployment, and how might these be addressed?

The pandemic has compounded inequalities that already existed and has hit vulnerable and marginalised groups the hardest. The disruption in education has increased disparities, at a critical time of life for emotional and physical development, affecting mental health and life chances too. Future employment remains uncertain. For young people unable to secure work earlier or who hold insecure jobs, there is a scarring effect of stigma, loss of confidence and subsequent lower pay or reduced chances of career progression.

The nature of work also is changing, where home-working can provide greater access to jobs for some young people, others do not have suitable space or connectivity to work from home. Meanwhile retail, leisure and hospitality sectors have been hit especially hard by the pandemic, and young people make up a disproportionate level of the workforce in entry level positions, seasonal employment and job insecurity. In truth, we cannot create sufficient opportunities and jobs quickly enough, nor sustained over a longer period. Without a fundamental change in how we support young people, far too many will be left behind.

Employment programmes which stand alone are not sufficient. More wrap-around support is needed for those schemes. Significant investment is needed for training professional youth workers and up-skilling volunteer-led youth and community organisations, as an intrinsic part of any youth offer for young people up to 24 years of age. This includes youth work training for related professionals embedded in employment services, including Job Centre Plus Youth Hubs.

At its core, youth work builds on the strengths of a young person in an asset-based approach. Trained youth workers provide emotional support (people to lean on), social capital (personal connections), practical support (including financial) and skills (how to get on in life).  It promotes enterprise and young people’s agency, with a range of skills which employers want for young people to be ‘work ready’, and is equally important for the self-employed, business start-ups and gig economy.

Q2. What are the main challenges facing employers in the labour market today? What barriers do they face in recruiting young workers and setting up apprenticeships and traineeships?

The drive towards job creation and training schemes such as Kickstart provide the basis of an ‘opportunity guarantee’ for training, apprenticeships or job opportunities. However, this alone is unlikely to be sufficient in particular for areas of high deprivation, rural and remote areas with poor transport links and commutable opportunities, and for vulnerable young people furthest from the labour market. Programmes like Kickstart are a great starting point, but there are concerns from young people of ‘what happens when the 6-months training ends?’, and from employers who might not have the resources to keep them in a job.

As such, youth work provides an essential support that can be an integral part of employment programmes; from involving young people in the design of youth services as part of Youth Hubs, to the Good Youth Employment Charter for employers, and to help young people stay connected with group activities and opportunities in their local community.

Q4. Is funding for education, training and skills enough to meet the needs of young people and of the labour market? How can we ensure it continues to reach those who need it most?

Specific skills are required to support young people in making significant life choices, forming new relationships and tackling new challenges. In times of economic downturn, youth services provide motivation, confidence and aspiration for young people, and a sense of belonging rather than isolation or feeling ‘left behind’, which is most pronounced for disadvantaged and vulnerable young people, further widening inequality. Youth work needs to be seen as an essential service to support youth employment, not an add-on. Youth services are most often funded on a per head basis of 11-18 year olds, but serve a wider age range. Greater investment is needed to support 16-24 year olds, in particular, to ensure sustained youth work support across the age range.

We are calling for a ‘triple lock’ for youth employment; To be most effective, this approach requires significant investment in training and a much stronger understanding of, and collaboration between, the employment and youth work professions:

• Work ready - Investment must be put into identifying young people hidden at a local level, not in education, employment and training.
• Opportunity guarantee - Clear and ongoing information, advice and guidance must be aspirational and practical; it needs to come from (or be guided by) trusted sources,
• Locked-in support - A youth work approach should be embedded in Job Centre Plus (JCP) Youth Hubs and employment programmes. This provides the basis of complementary quality standards for consistency to read-across the range of services and partner agencies.

Q11. What lessons can be learned by current and previous youth labour market policy interventions and educational approaches, both in the UK and in other countries?

The barriers to work have been consistent over the years and are amplified by the pandemic: many young people lack work experience, are low on confidence, and are not seen to have the right skills. We must learn lessons from the depths of the 1980s recession which wrote off a generation of young people, and many families, to mass unemployment and more punitive approaches to non-participation in training schemes, with little or no hope of employment at the end. That left whole communities scarred, widening inequalities which can still be traced today.

Overall there needs to be significant investment in job creation, enterprise and, crucially, youth services. A churn of jobs and opportunities will be the pattern of work for most young people. They need consistent and coherent support throughout. Trained youth workers provide long term relationships that young people value, and ensure there is no cliff-edge of support when young people reach 18 years of age.

Fundamentally, a youth work approach helps young people to stay connected, with a sense of belonging, supported in the present and in shaping the future labour market. Youth work provides early help ‘up-stream’ at ages 14 to 17, that is sustained for young people aged 18 to 24 years, supported into work, between jobs and within the community. It supports individuals with skills and connections to increase their social mobility, and group networks which build community resilience and employment opportunities. It is rooted in a youth work curriculum, national occupational standards and qualifications support practitioners as a form of education which focuses on the personal and social development of young people.

• Specialist knowledge of how young people develop through adolescence, by stage not age; removing the need to meet a certain threshold, to identify needs and opportunities.
• Providing young people with the skills they need to learn ‘where they are at’, to build on their strengths and assets, complementary to formal education, in their communities, employment and social networks.
• Engaging young people in positive activities and critical dialogue, to overcome barriers and develop their own voice and agency, and transition to social and economic independence.
• Reflective practice, peer education and situational learning; providing opportunities for young people to acquire and develop practical and technical skills and competencies.
• Experiential learning (learning through experience) to grow in confidence, motivation, inspiration, self-determination and interpersonal skills.
• Guided by a youth work curriculum for economic skills in education and employment and financial literacy; social skills for communications and decision making; life skills in health and wellbeing, and to improve relationships.

NYA would welcome the opportunity to provide oral evidence to the committee.

10th May 2021