Youth employment – NCYVS Youth Sector group meeting

11 October 2011

Pat Russell – Deputy Director

Young People and Employment Division

Five Priorities for youth employment

• Raising attainment and ensuring that young people have the skills they need to compete in a global economy, including through quality vocational education and training.

• Helping young people at risk of falling through the net, by supporting local partners to provide effective, co‑ordinated services.

• Encouraging employers in both the public and private sectors to help inspire young people and to offer more work experience, internships and Apprenticeship opportunities to young people.

• Promoting personal responsibility by ensuring that work pays and that those on out‑of‑work benefits who can work prepare and search for work effectively.

• Creating the wider conditions for balanced, sustainable growth, including through protecting and extending the flexibilities of the UK labour market.

Breakdown of the population aged under 25• Many 16-17s are inactive students, while many 18-24s are employed non-students.

• Around 1.2 million 16-17s (83% of the age group) and 1.78 million 18-24s (32%) are in full-time education (FTE). Most under-25s in FTE are economically inactive but 835,000 are working around their studies and 264,000 are ILO unemployed.

• There is a much larger absolute number of 18-24s not working or in FTE. But 68% of 18-24s outside FTE are working, compared to only 36% of under 18s not in FTE.

163,000 - 64% of those not in FTE - are workless (unemployed or inactive)

1.3 million – 32% of those not in FTE are workless (unemployed or inactive)

NEET are subset of workless not in FTE

Employedin FTE

256,000

Unemployed in FTE

133,000

Inactivein FTE

842,000

Inactivenot FTE 92,000

Employed not FTE 92,000

Unemployed not FTE 71,000

Inactivenot FTE653,000Unemployed

not FTE638,000

Employed not FTE

2,766,000

Inactivein FTE

1,065,000

Employedin FTE

579,000

Unemployedin FTE

131,000

18-245.8

million

16-171.5

million

Source: ONS

Many 16-17s areinactive students

Many 18-24s are employed non-students.

What we know about the characteristics of young people who are NEET• Most young people do not spend any time NEET and have positive expectations for

the future.

• A minority of young people are at risk of becoming long-term NEET, particularly those from workless backgrounds, those excluded from school and those who do not do well at GCSE. Nearly half of those who get no qualifications at GCSE spend a year or more not in work or education by the time they are 18.

• There is a strong link between a young persons background and likelihood of becoming NEET. The NEET rate at age 17 for those from non-professional parents is about four times higher than for those with professional parents.

• Care leavers are particularly at risk of being NEET – around 30% of 19 year olds who were formally in care are NEET. Children in care have poorer educational outcomes, however the proportion NEET does not vary greatly for those without or with qualifications.

• Young people from workless backgrounds and areas struggle to find work and have low expectations for the future. However, a common theme expressed by young people is the desire to work rather than spend their lives on benefits.

• Less disadvantaged groups like recent graduates, despite recent high unemployment, can still expect to do much better in the future.

The DWP policy direction

• We are modernising the way Jobcentre Plus delivers its services. More responsibility for Jobcentre Plus advisers to assess customers’ individual needs and offer the support they see fit including access to a number of Get Britain Working measures

• Through the Work Programme, giving more freedom to providers, leaving them to make judgements about how best to support jobseekers who need extra help and doing away with the prescriptive employment programmes of the last Government.

• Focus on partnership working: need JCP, providers, LAs, employers and jobseekers to come together to find new solutions to unemployment

• Focus on results: Jobcentre Plus staff will be more results-focussed; providers will be paid by results and incentivised to focus on hardest to help

• All underpinned by transformational reform of benefit system and the introduction of Universal Credit, to make work pay.

JCP support for JSA and ESA customers

The Challenge• JCP responsible for administering out of work benefits system• Previously done using highly standardised operating model• One size fits all approach to employment support is ineffective and inefficient

A New Approach• JCP managers and advisers given as much flexibility as possible• Trusting frontline advisers to use skills to give customers the help they need• Flexibility supported by new JCP performance framework• JCP will be judged by its results not by its activity• The new support model will consist of

– Face to face meetings

– Flexible adviser support and a menu of customer provision

Policy is under development forpost-Work Programme support

Adviser support

Support through flexible provision

• Contracted provision• Black box• Maximum 2 years• Cross benefit• Minimum standards

NJI / WCA Pre-ProvisionReview

Flexiblesupport

Core face-to-face

conditionality Regime (JSA)

Fortnightly signing Fortnightly signing Fortnightly signing

Post-Work ProgrammeWork ProgrammePre-Work Programme(Claim duration)

Adviser support

Support through flexible provision

DiagnosticInterview

Customer journey – JSA and ESA

Flexible menu of support

Peer SupportMentors

Work Clubs

Work ExperienceInternships

Work ExperienceMandatory Work Activity

Apprenticeships

Volunteering Work Together

SkillsBasic Skills Support

Occupational Training: Sector based work

academies

ESF25% IB, IS volunteers75% disadvantaged

families

JobsearchAdvisor Support

Job vacancies databaseOnline supportCareers Advice

JCP Group Sessions

Flexible Support FundDiscretionary fundsSupport partnership

work to tackle disadvantage.

EnterpriseNew Enterprise Allowance (including mentoring and

financial support)Enterprise clubs

Self-employment guidance

Extra support to get Britain working

With support from the public, private and voluntary and community sectors we are enhancing the support to help newer customers into work. This includes the development of a number of Get Britain Working measures:

Work Clubs are encouraging people who are out of work to exchange skills and share experiences, enabling individuals to take responsibility for planning their own journey back to work with the support of others going through the same experience,

Work Together is helping claimants develop work skills through volunteering, with opportunities provided by local charities and voluntary organisations,

The New Enterprise Allowance supports those looking to start their own businesses by providing access to finance and valuable support from local business mentors. Enterprise Clubs help people make the most of local knowledge and resources to support unemployed people who are interested in self-employment.

Work Experience enables young unemployed people to get work experience with a local employer as a way of helping them to get valuable evidence to build their CVs, and later in the year will provide a new route to getting an Apprenticeship.

We are setting up a range of sector based work academies to offer pre-employment training and work experience placements in sectors with high volumes of local vacancies – with participants receiving a guaranteed job interview upon completion.

Apprenticeships - making them work for young unemployed people

• In the Budget 2011, we announced an 40,000 extra apprenticeship places targeted at young unemployed people

• Work Experience extension period where employers offer a apprenticeship

• Closer working between Jobcentre Plus and the National Apprenticeships Service

• Extra support for a small number of JSA claimants who would benefit from experiencing a short period of activity.

•This activity will help them re-engage with the system, refocus their job search and gain valuable work related disciplines.

• Jobcentre Plus advisers will have the flexibility to use Mandatory Work Activity, where they feel this is appropriate, as part of a wider range of support options.

•Delivered by contracted partners. A placement will be for up to 30 hours a week, last for 4 weeks.

•Customers will continue to receive JSA and be expected to continue to actively seek employment and attend all other mandatory appointments.

Mandatory Work Activity

The Work Programme

• A single programme for JSA and ESA claimants, with access for IS and IB claimants [England only] on a voluntary basis

• ‘Black box’ design: support determined by providers based on the needs of individuals rather than being defined by benefit type

• Payment largely through payments for sustained employment – includes sustainment payments and incentive payments - rather than process payments, and rewarding providers for keeping people in work for longer than ever before

• Providers will be given longer to work with customers (for 2 years) so that there is a real incentive to invest in customer support

Customer Groups Time for referral Referral Type

•JSA customers aged 25+

•JSA customers aged 18-24

•JSA customers who have recently moved from Incapacity Benefit

•JSA customers who are seriously disadvantaged in the labour market

•All Employment Support Allowance customers

•Employment Support Allowance (income related) customers who are placed in the Work Related Activity Group

•All Income Support and Incapacity Benefit customers [England only]

• Pension Credit claimants – after 1 year or at any time if with health condition

From 12 months

From 9 months

From 3 months

From 3 months

At any time

When customers are expected to be fit for work within 3 months

At any time

Mandatory

Mandatory

Mandatory

Mandatory or Voluntary depending on circumstance

Voluntary

Mandatory

Voluntary

Who will be helped

After the Work Programme

Policy is currently under development …..

• For customers who require further support as they reach the end of the Work Programme we are developing proposals for further support

• Work Programme providers will provide JCP with an exit report for each customer

• Aim to have support in place by summer 2013 to coincide with point at which the first customers flowing onto the Work Programme will finish their 2 years with providers

• Aim to ensure that these customers remain engaged in meaningful activity and continue to move closer to the labour market