The highly anticipated White Paper, Get Britain Working, landed on our desks last week with a promise of balancing the needs of underserved people with the right for financial support for those unable to work. Whilst the continuation of conditionality may raise alarm bells to some, a devolved, place-based provision of incorporating mental health support to those most in need reflects what could be perceived as a more equitable employment support offer.
A youth guarantee focused on the future labour market
The paper outlines how the Youth Guarantee will provide all young people with access to further education and training, thus increasing employment or apprenticeship prospects. Based on third sector research and the voices of young people, these are precisely the type of policy reforms that the Youth Employment Group, the coalition we’re part of, has called for.
One such important policy change proposed in the White Paper surrounds the future of the labour market, with a focus on digital skills required to build careers incorporating digital advancements such as AI. At Catch22, our expertise comes into its own when we consider the need and impact of programmes such as Digital Edge, TechUp Women and TikTok Creative Academy. These not only provide young people and adults with core digital skills to gain employment, but also offer sector specific insight into how to increase access to good quality, sustainable work.
This leads us to the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers – localised initiatives which pilot this new approach through integrating work and skills with health support. The paper discusses the devolution proposals aimed at economically inactive individuals which will commence with an allocation of £115 million for the Connect to Work program in 2025/26. The Connect to Work initiative aims to assist 100,000 individuals annually with eight trailblazer areas utilising a framework centred upon the collaboration of combined or local authorities to meet local needs. In theory, investments in employment support in these areas, focused on those whose health has been a cause of long term unemployment, will focus on local, pre-established resources within each locality, thus strengthening local economies.
Mental health related unemployment
Furthermore, with young adults having spoken of the mental health and wellbeing challenges that act as barriers to holding down a job, Connect to Work proposes a person-centered employment support offer via a health integrated approach. For young people, such support around mental health is crucial: From 2018 to 2022, 21% of individuals aged 18-24 with mental health issues were unemployed, compared to 13% of those without such challenges. As the number of young people experiencing mental health difficulties has risen over the past decade, so too has the unemployment rate attributed to health-related factors. In 2013, the figure stood at 93,000, but it has since more than doubled to 190,000.
At Catch22 we are keen to see how Connect To Work will come to fruition. Moreover we know the third sector has a lot to offer to help it succeed by sharing expertise and learning about how to meet the psychosocial needs of unemployed young people, alongside supporting them to maintain healthy minds and bodies which will then sustain work in the long run. We know that it is not only through securing a first job, but having a job which offers financial stability, purpose and belonging, social integration and continued development, which improves mental health long term. Our employability and skills services at Catch22 are testament to the transformation in mental health and wellbeing that further education, training or employment can offer. For example, only 50% of participants on Catch22’s Energise programme felt they had the confidence to enter the labour market at the start of the programme – after only 8 weeks of support that figure had increased to 89%.
Reforming JobCentre plus
As pushed for in Catch22’s Manifesto, we support a transformed national employment service which offers better job seekers’ support via alignment with their interests, skills, passions, and aspirations. Such an approach promotes job sustainability and facilitates continued career development. The government has confirmed their objectives to create a unified and universal jobs and career service which can adapt to local structures and needs. The reform will reduce conditionality for Universal Credit claimants in order to access JobCentre Plus support and will instead provide an ‘open-to-all’ service, prioritising career support over benefit administration.
At Catch22, our services evidence the power of in-work support which increases the longevity of new employment, especially when that ‘first job’ for young people can be the make or break of stabilising a new career. That is why we offer 6 months of in–work support after people have completed our employability programmes. It is vital that after receiving employment support, whether that be through a reformed job centre or accessing third sector services, an individual’s first job is a positive experience. And in our experience, that means that the support that helped them to achieve their first day in a new role is not simply cut off as soon as a contract is signed.
Therefore, it is imperative that the Youth Guarantee and Job Centre Plus reform consider the role of the third sector in providing that sustained, in-work support, to not just get people into ‘any job’, but into a lasting career with continued personal and professional development.
Conclusion
The collaboration of public, voluntary and private sectors in collectively delivering meaningful, high quality employability support will play a huge role in the successful implementation of Get Britain Working. Catch22’s Employability and Skills programmes, such as Energise and the Social Switch Project which target participants in the trailblazer areas of Liverpool City Regions and London hubs respectively, are already testing this model. These two programmes upskill young people in the ever-evolving skills required for the labour market, such as green and digital skills. Overall, we back both the Youth Guarantee and JobCentre Plus reforms and hope that these changes will pave the way for plugging skills gaps, providing good quality work, reducing economic inactivity and ensuring sustainable careers are accessible to all, regardless of one’s age, postcode, mental health challenges or current level of academic attainment. At Catch22, we’re ready to share our experience and help make this reform a reality.