Youth Employment UK reviews what the Autumn Budget announcements mean for young people in light of 2021 Youth Voice Census findings.
Autumn Budget: Overview
The Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his Autumn Budget and Spending Review statement in parliament. Across the 70 minute, speech there was a lot of detail to get into.
The speech was overall a very positive one; the economy is recovering quicker than anyone predicted after the lockdowns imposed on the UK during the height of Covid. Unemployment did not reach the levels that were expected either, jobs were protected and the economy is expected to begin to grow by 6% in 2022 with further growth predicted. The combination of these two factors and the OBR prediction for future economic growth meant the Chancellor was able to deliver a budget that was more about spending than saving as some of us, myself included, had expected.
But what does the budget really mean for young people?
This year the Youth Voice Census told us a lot about what young people want and need from services and to support their education to employment transition.
The key findings were:
- Growing mental health concerns
- The need for catching up
- Concerns in finding quality work where they live
- That there is no place for young people
So does the budget go any way to addressing these pivotal concerns and needs young people are facing right now? Whilst there are some positives, as ever the devil is in the detail.
Only 23.7% of young people agree that there is support for their mental health where they live.
The NHS and Social Care sector will be benefiting from significant increases in investment, the focus from the Chancellor was that this money would tackle backlogs of patients, improve diagnostic testing and build capacity in hospitals. Whilst all important areas there was only one mention of mental health services and that was for perinatal care.
At every stage in the Youth Voice Census young people told us of their challenges with anxiety, poor mental health and depression. From 14 through to 24 year olds, each cohort identified mental health being their biggest barrier to progressing in their next steps to education, work or training.
Did the chancellor deliver on mental health for young people – No.
66.4% of those education thought their learning had been disrupted ‘A lot’ or ‘A great deal’
Young people have not just missed out on their education experiences, they’ve also missed out on the experiences; like volunteering, work experience, first jobs, festivals, sports, music and extra curricular activities that support their wider personal development.
The government appointed catch-up Tsar Sir Kevan Collins advised the government that they would need to invest £15bn into schools to help catch up for the loss caused by the pandemic. The Chancellor announced instead that the government would invest a further £2bn for schools and return pupil spending to the rates of 2010. This is going to leave school leaders with tough choices to make, and is likely that for some schools the investment will not stretch as far as supporting young people with the things they need to progress such as work experience, more one to one guidance with a careers advisor and a sharper focus on skills. Young people have repeatedly told us that they do not feel prepared to make career choices or for the world of work and without real investment this is an issue that will long continue.
Additional investment announced for Youth Services (£560m), and Community Football Pitches (£200m) was announced but it isn’t quite the boost it seems. The £560m is money that was agreed to the youth sector in 2019 and has still not been paid out. Leaving the youth sector in crisis at a critical time of the pandemic. It is also still unclear if the £560m will go into investing in the workforce of the youth sector which is key to meeting young people’s need of having trusted advisers around them.
Did the chancellor deliver on education and support services for young people – No.
Only 9.9% of young people think that they could find a good job where they live.
Whilst we welcome investment into Apprenticeships, Traineeships and Skills Programmes has this budget done enough to deliver for young people? As the apprenticeship incentive for employers ends in January with additional apprenticeship announcements to come, it is very unclear whether this budget will deliver for young people through apprenticeships. The minimum wage increase will support better pay for some and for young people it will relieve some challenge as it is young people who often find themselves in low paid and precarious work, but without a strong message for employers on quality work this budget only addresses part of the story.
With more than 600,000 young people still not in education, employment and training it is hard to see where the job creation and pathways will come from to meet the needs of all young people.
For those young people facing multiple barriers to employment it was even less clear how they would be supported, 37.7% of young people who find themselves NEET engage with the JobCentre. So whilst it is good to see continued investment into DWP, a Kickstart extension until March and support for Restart, JETS and Sector Based Work Academies they will only help so many young people.
We still have a system where young people can fall through the gaps and not receive the support they need to fulfill their potential and Rishi Sunak only mentioned young people directly once in his 70 minute speech.
Did the chancellor deliver quality work for all young people – No.
81.9% of young people do not think there are enough opportunities to share their voice on important issues
Finally, young people told us that there is no place for them and that they do not feel heard. It is welcome to hear of investment to improve broadband services, transport links and libraries, it will help more young people feel connected. But it was not an investment to help all young people feel connected and to ensure that they had the digital devices and skills they would need to thrive.
Which brings us clearly to the final point that young people told us that they do not feel heard.
I think it is safe to say that Rishi Sunak didn’t get it right for young people. He could have spoken directly to the tens of thousands of young people who needed to feel that this government believes in them and their futures are being supported and he chose not to.
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