Research reveals success for interventions to help young people into work

Independent research into the use of a £7m grant for youth organisations across England, delivered by BBC Children in Need and Youth Futures Foundation, finds that it has supported 7,850 young people facing disadvantage since it was launched in June 2020.

The funding was made available from the government’s £800m dormant assets fund in response to the increased employment challenges of young people, particularly those from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, due to the pandemic.

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It has been handed to 85 organisations including Manchester-based charity the Proud Trust, Hull-based Toranj Tuition, and the London-based Damilola Taylor Trust.

Research by independent evaluator Cordis Bright reveals that, of the young people taking part in Inspiring Futures interventions, 73 per cent have started to make progress or have made significant progress in their employability. 

“The most common differences made to the lives of young people include entry to employment, confidence and self-esteem, improved life skills and engagement and achievement in education, employment, and training,” the research states.

Factors highlighted as key to the success of youth organisations included in the research are:

• The value of working with local partners like schools, police and community and voluntary sector organisations so they can signpost young people to services 

• The importance of the lived experience of the staff team and volunteers in encouraging young people to engage with programmes 

• Adapting or co-designing the programme with young people to build their interest and ownership 

• Offering on-going support and check-ins at key transition points, like when a young person starts a new job.

It comes ahead of the launch of a 12-week consultation on the future use of dormant assets in England next month.

Matthew Poole, director of grants and investment at the Youth Futures Foundation, said: “Inspiring Futures has a broad and varied reach and is on target to support nearly 13,000 young people. The evidence and learning we can gather from a group of this scale is significant. 

“Key insights emerging show how frontline organisations adapted their services to support young people during successive lockdowns and economic disruption.

“These adaptations provide useful insights for designing effective interventions as the cost of living crisis takes hold, demonstrating the value of our use of dormant assets funding to scale up learning. I encourage practitioners to look into the findings gathered from their peer organisations.”