SHAW TRUST – WRITTEN EVIDENCE (YUN0026)

Youth Unemployment Committee inquiry

How do we create and protect jobs for young people?

1. About Shaw Trust  

1.1. Shaw Trust believes in the right of every person to live a decent and dignified life through employment, despite challenges faced. As a charity, we seek to improve life chances for all, particularly for children and young people, who have adverse life experiences such as trauma, social, economic and health challenges and who may be disabled or have complex needs.

1.2. One of Shaw Trust’s key provisions is our Children, Young People and Families Services. Each year we work with thousands of children and young people, including some of the country’s most in need and at risk of poor educational attainment, social exclusion, harm and exploitation and substance misuse.

1.3. We do this through a range of Child to Career services such as: Our family and fostering services, children’s homes, leaving care accommodation and support; The schools within our multi academy education trust; Services for vulnerable young people at risk of not being in education, employment, or training (NEET); Careers advice, work placements, supported internships, traineeships, apprenticeships, and employment support. We believe that enabling people to access and sustain rewarding employment is a key pathway to improving life chances and wellbeing.    

2. Executive Summary and Recommendations

• 2.1. Research shows that young people are hardest hit by the labour market impacts of Covid. This is not just about losing jobs, but also about young people being pushed further from the labour market by more work experienced job seekers, and being unable to find that first job or sustained work.
• 2.2. Particular groups of young people, who faced employment and equality gaps before Covid, are being left even further behind by the pandemic; e.g. young black people, young disabled people, those already NEET and facing vulnerability and poverty, and young people in certain parts of the country.
• 2.3. Covid-19 has disproportionately hit economic sectors that employ young people; hospitality, non-food retail and leisure, which are often entry points into the labour market. 
• 2.4. A disequilibrium has emerged during the pandemic, with job destruction up and job creation down. The labour market impacts of the pandemic are also accelerating pre-existing trends, associated with the fourth industrial revolution’s automation of work.
• 2.5. Government, employers and employment support and skills providers face a three-pronged challenge: How to create enough jobs to take on workers losing their jobs; How to help more workers transition from sectors being automated to new growth sectors; How to ensure that gig-economy jobs are economically viable.
• 2.6. Green New Deal UK says 1.2 million jobs – replacing those lost during the pandemic - could be created within two years in the UK, with a green stimulus plan that focuses on green and digital infrastructure, energy and care work. Two sectors that continue to have a large number of vacancies, and are vital for a just society and sustainable economic growth are the care and green construction sectors. Shaw Trust has responded to the urgent need to recruit and retain in these sectors through our Care and Construction Academies. They bring together a number of services covering recruitment, careers advice, learning and skills development, and employment support, exemplifying our ‘Child to Career’ approach to employability support.

Shaw Trust Policy Recommendations:

• 2.7. Join up DfE and DWP provision and funding: The split in skills, education and employment provision between DfE and DWP should be reviewed. Flexibility and integration is needed to equip young people to progress, and move between employment support and re/up-skilling, and access sectors with skills shortages – aligned to government strategies.
• 2.8. National Careers Service for under 18s: Good careers advice needs to be expanded for young people from 13 years old onwards, with good route ways into good qualifications and work. This is particularly the case for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
• 2.9. More Level 1 and 2 provision: The government’s Skills for Jobs White Paper, and Lifetime Skills Guarantee are welcome, but do not do enough to address lack of provision of entry Level 1 and 2 qualifications. These are vital stepping-stones and pathways to further learning and high quality jobs and careers, particularly for SEND learners.
• 2.10. Expanding and new provision for disadvantaged young people: More support for young people will be needed to address the consequences of the pandemic. However, expanding provision and new provisions will be particularly necessary to support young people who are disabled, NEET, face poverty and vulnerability, and are leaving care.
• 2.11. Young disabled people:  We agree with the Disability Sub Group of the Youth Employment Group (YEG) that the Chancellor’s Plan for Jobs included a number of welcomed initiatives, but there were no interventions specifically for disabled young people. YEG have put forward recommendations for disabled young people, which Shaw Trust supports: Make the Kickstart scheme open to a wider group (e.g. those with Education, Health and Care Plans - ECHP) or put in place an alternative specialist employment support programme for young disabled people; Double the number of Disability Employment Advisors in line with the doubling of work coaches; Collect and publish data on the numbers of disabled participants in Kickstart with a breakdown by type of disability; Provide £2,000 incentive payments to employers that offer supported internships providing parity with apprenticeships; Create a specialist division within the National Careers Service to enable disabled young people to receive tailored online advice and information. Shaw Trust is also calling for Supported Internships to be extended to all children and young people who had significant SEND support at school, not just those with an EHCP.
• 2.12. Young people facing poverty and vulnerability: Good employment opportunities are key to addressing vulnerability and poverty, as a route to independence through achievement and agency.  Joined-up and layered public services across all levels of government and commissioning, grounded in social-value maximisation and co-production with young people, are critical to ensure positive longitudinal outcomes for children and families, particularly around education, employment and training.  
• 2.13. Local NEET and care leaver programmes: The joined approach of local authorities we work with on NEET and care levers provision provide best practice that is highly replicable and scalable nationally. We deliver high quality, innovative care leavers supported accommodation in Gloucestershire and Northampton, enabling care experienced young people to transition to adulthood through further education, employment or training opportunities.

• 2.14. National shared outcomes procurement: We hope the government will use its forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review to report back, and build, on the first round of Shared Outcomes Fund pilots. We recommend a full evaluation is published to inform the development of cross government programmes focused on the shared outcomes of improved employment, education and training for vulnerable young people. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), replacing the European Social Fund, will also be crucial in supporting skills and employment support programmes for disadvantaged young people. We urge the government to publish its proposals for the UKSPF soon. 

3. Youth unemployment challenges

3.1. Research by the Resolution Foundation (RF) shows that young people have been hardest hit by the labour market impacts of Covid. Young people have experienced a sharp rise in unemployment during the pandemic – despite widespread furloughing and rise in studying – with increases fastest among recent education-leavers and young black people.

3.2. In “Uneven Steps” the RF find the rise in youth unemployment is not just about those losing their jobs, but also young people not finding work in the first place. Those who left education just before or during the crisis – the so-called “class of 2020” – have faced particular difficulties, with unemployment rising fastest among those who recently left education. Having a degree has not protected recent graduates from this. Among non-graduates who left education one year ago, unemployment rose from 14 to 18% between 2019 and 2020 and among graduates, it rose from 10 to 14%[1].

4. Particularly affected groups

4.1. Particular groups of young people, facing employment opportunity and equality gaps before Covid, are being left even further behind by the pandemic. RF’s research finds, prior to the pandemic, the unemployment rate among young people with a Black background was 25%, compared to 10% for young people from a White background. During the crisis, the unemployment rate for young Black people overall rose by over a third to 35%, compared to 13% for young people from a White background[2].

4.2. As the Youth Employment Group’s Disability Sub Group notes, “Disabled people experience significantly higher rates of unemployment and economic inactivity compared to non-disabled people[3]. In a challenging job market, past research suggests disabled people are more likely to be adversely affected[4]. Disabled young people face a double barrier of much greater competition for jobs for young people and ongoing disability discrimination”. 

4.3. Shaw Trust runs programmes for young people who are not in education, employment or training, or at risk of it. We support young people leaving care, through innovative support and accommodation, who also face major labour market inequalities that are being worsened by the pandemic. For example, in a paper from January this year, researchers from Sheffield Hallam University explored the barriers affecting a young care leaver’s access to sustainable destination routes, and identified a worrying dilemma marking the transition from care settings to independent living for many young people: “Some young people prioritise immediate housing needs over employment…and significant financial stress can make it problematic to sustain training/education…The sudden cope with both and the emotional and practical upheavals of adapting to living alone, are major challenges”[5].

4.4. Deprived regions of the country are also being disproportionately impacted by the training and labour market impacts of Covid. For example, the Government’s Kickstart scheme, designed to create 250,000 jobs for young people has created fewer than 500 actually starting posts in the north-east of England[6].

5. Hardest hit sectors employing young people

5.1. Covid-19 has also disproportionately hit economic sectors that employ young people. For example, hospitality, non-food retail and leisure industries are often an entry point into the labour market. Prior to Covid, jobs in retail, hospitality and leisure were also amongst the largest employment outcomes across Shaw Trust’s provision.

5.2. Some of these sectors may never return to their pre Covid levels and structure, fundamentally altering the economy going forward. Professor Sir Christopher Pissarides notes, under Covid, the fourth industrial trend of automation has accelerated, increasing job destruction rates.

5.3. Notwithstanding employment growth in sectors such as social care, a disequilibrium has emerged during the pandemic, with job destruction up, and job creation down. Pre existing digital and automation impacts are also being accelerated. Pissarides sets out a three pronged challenge; how to create enough jobs to take on workers losing their jobs; how to help more workers transition from sectors getting automated to new growth sectors; and how to ensure that gig jobs are viable (‘proper’ as Pissarides puts it) jobs.

5.4. Pissarides says government needs to focus on creating jobs in health and care, and improving early specialisation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills from school age, and supporting transitions to new jobs and sectors through extensive and lifelong learning[7].

5.5. The campaign group, Green New Deal UK, finds that 1.2 million jobs – replacing all those lost during the pandemic - could be created within two years in the UK with a green stimulus plan, focused on green and digital infrastructure, energy and care work[8].

5.6. The rest of this submission focuses on Shaw Trust’s work and policy recommendations to support jobs in growth sectors - through our Care and Construction Academies, and transitions for young people to employment - education, learning and skills, careers advice and employment support need to be joined up and tailored to local labour market conditions. Drawing on Shaw Trust’s ‘Child to Career’ approach and outcome orientated service delivery, this submission also looks at how disadvantaged young people who are disabled, NEET, and vulnerable can be supporting into employment.

6. Supporting jobs in growth sectors

6.1. Two sectors that continue to have a large number of vacancies, and are vital for a just society and sustainable, green economy, as highlighted by Green New Deal UK’s research, are the care and construction sectors (e.g. there are 122,000 job vacancies in the social care sector).

6.2. Shaw Trust has responded to this urgent need to recruit and retain social care and green construction workers through our Care and Construction Academies. They create sectoral route ways, at both national and local levels, allowing jobseekers to gain roles quickly.

6.3. They integrate Shaw Trust provision, based on our ‘Child to Career’ approach, bringing together a number of services covering recruitment, careers advice, learning and skills development, and employment support.

7. Supporting transitions through joined up DfE and DWP provision

7.1. The Chancellor’s Plan for Jobs showed a welcome intention to prioritise employment, particularly for young people. For the plan to be fully effective, there needs to be join up between the programmes launched. A key way in which this can be achieved is through departmental join up between Department for Education (DfE) and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), breaking down silos and bridging gaps between traineeships, apprenticeships, careers advice, the Kickstart scheme, job searching and permanent work.

7.2. Provision must be outcome, not input, driven, and make sure young people can be easily progressed, transitioned and transferred across DfE/Educational and Skills Funding Agency and DWP/Job Centre Plus provision. The relationship between DfE and DWP programmes and funding streams should be reviewed to better join up between education, skills and employment policy around young people, tailored to local labour market conditions, particularly in deprived areas.

7.3. Alignment with key government strategies and initiatives is also needed, e.g. government’s UK Research & Innovation fund, industrial and green strategies, investment in Smart Specialisation Zones, Levelling-up and UK Community Renewal and UK Shared Prosperity Funding, and Free Ports. 

7.4. We think there is merit in ESFA commissioned services (with the exception of colleges) moving to the DWP. Vocational skills could sit with the DWP, with DfE having responsibility for higher education and level 4 and above qualifications.

8. Careers advice for young people

8.1. Consideration should be given to expanding a National Careers Service style model to provide face to face careers advice and guidance support for those under 18 years of age (the Telephone Helpline is marketed to those aged 13 and over, but face to face support is only available to those aged 18+). We need to provide good careers advice for young people from 13+, with good route ways into good qualifications and work, aligned to local labour markets.

8.2. This is particularly important for SEND pupils, who have poor educational and employment outcomes. Shaw Trust currently has around 25% of adult customers who identify as having special educational needs and/or disabilities on our National Careers Service provision, and they are a priority group. However, we also support the YEG’s proposal to “Create a specialist division within the National Careers Service to enable disabled people to receive tailored online advice and information.” Careers advice support for SEND learners also needs to be joined up with education grants and Access to Work, creating a level playing field.

9. The need for more Level 1 and 2 qualifications

9.1. The government’s Skills for Jobs White Paper, and Lifetime Skills Guarantee are welcome, but do not do enough to address the lack of provision of entry Level 1 and 2 qualifications.

9.2. Such qualifications are vital stepping-stones and pathways to further learning and high quality jobs and careers, particularly for SEND learners. In Shaw Trust’s experience, the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy has compounded this problem, because it is being used to fund higher level qualifications.

9.3. The pathways open to those with Level 3 and lower qualifications are also complex. Clearer progression pathways are needed, and the gap between the two levels must not grow too big, or learners will not be able to bridge it.

10. Expanding and new support for disadvantaged groups

10.1. Increasing support for all young people will be needed to address the unemployment effects of the pandemic on young people. However, as set out in Section 4 the labour market impacts of Covid-19 have not been felt equally.

10.2. As well as expanding existing provision for disadvantaged groups, new programmes and approaches will be needed. Below are Shaw Trust’s proposals to support disabled, neuro-diverse, NEET, and vulnerable young people based on our ‘Child to Career’ provision, and our mission to make rewarding employment accessible to all.

11. Young Disabled People

11.1. The Disability Sub Group of the YEG say that the Chancellor’s Plan for Jobs included a number of welcomed initiatives to support, but there were no interventions announced specifically targeted towards disabled young people. The YEG believe that the Plan for Jobs will not offer sufficient support to young people particularly from risk of long-term unemployment.

11.2. They have put forward five measures to support disabled young people, which Shaw Trust supports. We hope the government will be able to take these forward in its forthcoming Green Paper on Disability and Health, and National Disability Strategy:  

DWP:

1. Make the Kickstart scheme open to a wider group than just those claiming Universal Credit (e.g. those with EHCPs). If Kickstart cannot be extended to more disabled young people, put in place alternative specialist employment support for young disabled people.
2. Double the number of Disability Employment Advisors in line with doubling of work coaches to ensure sufficient capacity to provide effective support.
3. Collect and publish data on disabled participants in Kickstart with a breakdown by type of disability.

DfE:

4. Provide £2,000 incentive payments to employers that offer supported internships in order to provide parity with apprenticeships.
5. Create specialist division within the National Careers Service to enable disabled young people to receive tailored online advice and information.

11.3. Additionally, Shaw Trust is calling for Supported Internship model to be extended to all children and young people who have had significant SEND support at school, but did qualify for an EHCP, as they may still have significant needs, and could benefit greatly from Supported Internships.

12. Supporting vulnerable young people through national and local programmes

12.1. The Children’s Commissioner estimates  around 2.3 million children and young people are growing up with vulnerability in England.  Risk factors are: 1) families under increased pressure; 2) children at risk or suffering harm; 3) children in care; 4) children at risk of falling behind in education. The Children’s Commissioner identified these issues as most likely to expose young people to poorer outcomes in attainment, well-being and transition to adulthood, including employment[9].  

12.2. Shaw Trust believes good employment opportunities are key to addressing this vulnerability and poverty, hence why it is the basis of our mission.  Joined-up and layered public services across all levels of government and commissioning, grounded in social-value maximisation and co-production with young people, are critical to ensure positive longitudinal education, employment and training outcomes. Support should be integrated across central and local government departments, programmes and budgets, from early years to adulthood. This is the approach Shaw Trust seeks to deliver though our ‘Child to Career’ approach.

12.3. At local level, the joined-up approach of local authorities we work with to provide NEET and care levers provision in Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire provide best practice examples that are replicable and scalable nationally. For example, we deliver high quality, innovative care leavers supported accommodation in Gloucestershire and Northampton, supporting transitions to adulthood and education, employment or training opportunities.

12.4. Our NEET provision in Gloucestershire was co-designed with two young ambassadors, who have experience of living in care. The ambassadors were also involved in co-producing the brief for the rigorous tender process. This highlights the importance and effectiveness of co-creation of commissioning/procurement and programme design and delivery with young people.

12.5. Shaw Trust seeks to deliver three levels of social value: 1) The contracts we bid for should only be in line with our mission to make rewarding employment available to all; 2) The layering of our wider services for the benefit of the children and young people we support.

12.6. For example, children and young people in our care benefit from our learning and skills, careers advice, community well-being and employment support provision; 3) Reinvesting surplus income from our programmes and other donations into our charitable Foundation, to invest in innovative interventions focussed on prevention and progress, smoothing the cracks and bridging cliff-edges in Child to Career transitions.

12.7. For national public procurement, we hope the government will use its forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review to report back, and build, on the first round of Shared Outcomes Fund pilots, announced last year. An evaluation should inform shared outcomes policy direction and development for improved employment, education and training outcomes for vulnerable young people.

12.8. The UKSPF, replacing the European Social Fund, will be crucial in supporting skills and employment support programmes for disadvantaged young people. We urge the government to publish its proposals for the UKSPF soon, to ensure transparency and clarity regarding this future funding. It is so important for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations such as Shaw Trust. 

10th May 2021