GREATER MANCHESTER CENTRE FOR VOLUNTARY ORGANISATION (GMCVO) – WRITTEN EVIDENCE (YUN0027)
Youth Unemployment Committee inquiry
GMCVO have delivered inclusive employment programmes for young people aged 18-25 years old in Greater Manchester (GM) since 2013. We successfully delivered the GM Talent Match (GMTM) programme (2013-2018). GMTM worked with young people who had not been in employment, education or training for at least 12 months at the point of referral. It was delivered locally by VCSE community organisations that employed Talent Coaches to provide holistic key-worker support to young people who faced multiple barriers to employment and mainstream provision. https://youtu.be/Os7YFMa_FWM
GM Hidden Talent (GMHT) was a natural successor, delivered from 2019-2021 in all GM boroughs and until the end of June 2021 in Manchester, Salford and Bolton. GMHT employed the same delivery model, but focused on “hidden” young people: those who were not in education, employment or training or claiming benefits for 6 months at the point of referral.
In the first year of the Hidden Talent programme, we analysed the barriers to employment identified by programme beneficiaries.
A gamut of more entrenched barriers to employment – severe mental health difficulties, homelessness, caring responsibilities – impacted individual young people on the programme, but clearer patterns emerged relating to young people’s workplace awareness. Of the 131 young people registered to Hidden Talent at the time of writing:
• 24 % had no work experience or volunteering when joining the programme
• 46 % did not know what kind of employment they wanted
• 51% did not know what skills/experience/qualifications they needed
• 72% were not confident with job searches and CVs
Over half of young people had difficulty managing their feelings and emotions. Over half struggled with confidence. Talent Coaches frequently report that this low confidence is linked to an endemic lack of routine (a result of not being in education, work or training).
10. What can be done to ensure that enough apprenticeship and traineeship placements are available for young people? Is the apprenticeship levy the right way to achieve a continuing supply of opportunities?
At a meeting in December 2020, Talent Coaches discussed their experience of the availability and suitability of traineeship schemes in Greater Manchester led by a Talent Coach based in Oldham and Rochdale. She discussed her experience of traineeships:
•Feels training providers are getting apprentice-ready young people and playing the system for funding. Janet does not think this way of working targets the young people who traineeships are designed for. They expect young people to have maths and English qualifications before starting the traineeship.
•She thinks that training providers get bristly when intermediaries like Janet try and arrange the work placement element to the traineeship.
•Janet and Eva spoke highly of North Lancs Training Group. They have traineeship and study centres in Oldham and Bury.
The Talent Coaches then joined the discussion:
•There is not a lot of publicity around traineeships.
•The experience on traineeships is that the training providers have overpromised and under delivered.
•Not all Talent Coaches recommend traineeships to their young people. The expectations are high and the work is typically unpaid, would rather put young people in a job. Expect young people to do 12 weeks of unpaid work.
•Trafford Housing Trust have a new employment and skills service for residents and this included traineeships.
•Groundwork run their own traineeships but they are struggling to place young people in work. Some employers had closed their doors to taking on trainees. Groundwork staff responsible for managing traineeships had also been furloughed or placed on part-time hours.
11. 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?
A significant reason for the success of the Hidden Talent programme to engage with young people furthest from the labour market, is the Talent Coach model as described in this case study on our website: https://www.gmcvo.org.uk/case-studies/talent-coach-approach. The Hidden Talent programme recognises the significance of mental wellbeing in relation to young peoples’ ability to gain and maintain employment. Accordingly, the programme commissioned a specialist mental health provider to deliver individual support to young people, removing the barrier of external referrals and waiting lists. This case study highlights the success of mental health provision working in partnership with employability support: https://www.gmcvo.org.uk/case-studies/talent-coaches-and-mental-health-practitioners-co-working-support-young-people%E2%80%99s-mental
Young people have explained the benefits of the key-worker and holistic approach to support in the Peer Evaluation process at the end of the programme: https://www.gmcvo.org.uk/system/files/publications/Peer%20Evaluation%20Year%202%20Collated%20Report%20Final.pdf
Some clear themes emerge from this report. One is the quality of the one-to-one relationship between beneficiaries and their Talent Coach or Mental Health Practitioner. Beneficiaries have repeatedly described the understanding, supportive and non-judgemental nature of these relationships. It is perhaps not surprising that Coaches and Practitioners are most frequently described as outgoing; friendly; helpful and amazing. The Youth Panel were pleased to note a number of responses describing support that “goes above and beyond”.
A second theme is an appreciation of the holistic support provided by Talent Coaches, which has had an increased focus on wellbeing, including physical and mental health of young people in the second year of the programme. Beneficiaries have also referenced financial support, including referrals to food banks, and work that Talent Coaches have done with their wider families.
All the beneficiaries that took part rated the support from their Talent Coach or Mental Health Practitioner, and their experience of the programme higher than 8/10. And all 19 young people would recommend working with a Talent Coach or Mental Health Practitioner to a friend.
This long-term relationship between the Talent Coach and beneficiary is also a reason why the programme was able to continue to running throughout the first and subsequent lockdowns. The model was adaptable enough to be delivered remotely, often to young people who were digitally excluded, because Talent Coaches were able to prioritise wellbeing support over employability support and had the trusting relationship necessary to be able to deliver this over phone and text. See our Response to Covid-19 report on our website here: https://www.gmcvo.org.uk/publications/greater-manchester%E2%80%99s-hidden-talent%E2%80%99s-response-covid-19-crisis
10th May 2021