Campaigning for economic recovery for young people
Debra Burnett • Aug 26, 2021
Youth Employment Group publish new paper
The Youth Employment Group (YEG) established in April 2020 in response to the post COVID employment crisis, is the largest UK coalition of youth employment experts. With over 200 member organisations, including one close to our hearts (or our very own) the British Association of Supported Employment (BASE) we are really pleased to see inclusive youth employment being advocated for in force. Specifically the YEG supports a number of subgroups looking at cause and solutions for the challenges facing different groups; and from our point of view it is great to have representation for disability and employers in those groups.
The YEG have been calling for all young people to be supported in the economic recovery. We know that of the 1 in 7 young people not in employment or education, most are not actively looking for work, and those with disadvantages and barriers to employment continue to face the greatest risk of being left behind. This month YEG published a new paper “Levelling Up for young people: Building an Opportunity Guarantee” addressing the short and long term employment challenges for young people.
The report proposes a three-stage approach between now and early 2022. Starting with a “September Guarantee” giving the class of 2021 the opportunity to take their next step into either employment or education. The report makes recommendations for:
- More education opportunities
- Improvements and expansion of kickstart & apprenticeships
- Higher quality and quantity of local employment support
- Cross government accountability and collaboration
Click
here
to find out more. Support their work by sharing their paper on social media because together we can all make a real difference to young people’s lives.
Photo by Austin Kehmeier
on Unsplash
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An incredible good news story from one of our clients, who explains how the support from us has changed her life and helped her get her dream job!
When Rajpal first became a client at Ways into Work he had been struggling with looking for work and a good job match. Rajpal has a mild learning disability and mental health issues and had not worked for over ten years except to help now and then at his family’s supermarket. He had not worked for such a long time as he was not well enough to think about his career and life choices. When he joined Ways into Work as a Job Seeker and was assigned an Employment Coach who spent a long time getting to know him, doing a vocational profile and job matching. It was decided that the best first step was for Rajpal was to experience what different jobs and roles are like and what they would entail. Ways into Work then supported him in applying for various roles in retail and did mock interviews where he gained lots of practice. He secured a few interviews but was not offered any of the jobs. Rajpal had begun taking an interest in going to the gym and informed his Employment Coach that he would like a job at the gym. After approaching the employer, his Employment Coach secured an interview for him. He was so happy that at the interview when asked why he would like to work at the gym, he pulled out of his pocket a handwritten lengthy list of reasons why he liked the job and the skills he had to offer. This showed the employer his passion for the job and Rajpal was offered the job, working 3 days (24 hours) a week to begin with. As the leisure centre was 7 miles away, his Employment Coach supported him with applying for Access To Work transport to and from work. They also taught him and his parents how to claim his monthly ATW transport and supported him with the change of circumstances in his benefits. When Rajpal first started to work at the Leisure Centre he solely worked in the gym and his role included ensuring that all the equipment was working and clean, as well as dealing with lots of customer enquiries. This was quite a challenge for Rajpal to begin with, as it was a large premise and no two days were the same. With Job Coaching , Ways into Work was able to support Rajpal by helping to create a routine for him and also discussing with his supervisor a way of building new tasks into his days as the weeks progressed.
