Launched as part of the Get Britain Working white paper, the Youth Guarantee aims to support 18-21-year-olds to access apprenticeships, training and employment support. 8 English regions (known as Youth Guarantee Trailblazers) have been selected to pilot the initiative, with a £45 million investment kickstarting the project.
How many Trailblazers are there?
There will be 16 Trailblazers across Britain overall, with 8 focusing on the Youth Guarantee and 8 focusing on broader economic inactivity. They form part of a £240 million investment to tackle economic inactivity by enhancing existing programmes and testing new engagement and support activities.
The 8 Youth Guarantee Trailblazers will focus on youth programmes and supporting NEET young people aged 18-21 across England.
The 8 Inactivity Trailblazers will focus on tackling employment inactivity in all ages across North England, London and Wales. The funding for 3 of these regions (North East, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire) will include NHS accelerators to prevent people from leaving work completely due to ill health.
Where are the 8 Youth Guarantee Trailblazer areas?
The 8 regions selected as Youth Guarantee Trailblazers are:
- Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
- East Midlands
- Liverpool
- London (2 currently unconfirmed locations)
- Tees Valley
- West Midlands
- West of England
CEO of Youth Employment UK, Laura-Jane Rawlings MBE DL, has been appointed Chair of the Youth Guarantee Programme Board for the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).
Why were these Trailblazer areas selected?
Key considerations for the 8 Youth Guarantee Trailblazer areas include:
- Mayoral authorities: clear governance and management are outlined as a key part of Trailblazer’s commitments. The Government is taking a localised approach and regions with mayoral authorities can utilise their existing robust systems to test the ‘Youth Guarantee’.
- Local youth employment landscapes: plans will focus on reducing economic inactivity so local challenges, diversity and regional disparities have been taken into account. For example, unemployment in the West Midlands region is double the national average. These 8 locations provide a mix of North, East, West and South England.
- Existing local initiatives: each Trailblazer will be testing new activities, but also building upon existing support programmes. These areas will have been considered for their current strategies and growth plans for NEET young people that have the potential to be enhanced.
What are the aims of the Trailblazer areas?
The Government aims to understand:
- Leadership and accountability requirements: building evidence of what structures are needed locally to ensure young people don’t miss out on support.
- What provisions come under the Youth Guarantee: identifying what support can be accessed at a national level, local offers, third sector programs, and employer support.
- How to establish streamlined routes to support: enabling accessibility and smooth transitions into, through and out of the Youth Guarantee.
- Who delivers support: determining the best organisations to reduce employment barriers and deliver support at different stages of a young person’s journey, and understanding who should be accountable.
- How to identify and engage young people: seeking innovative ways to identify and engage young people who need support and preventing disengagement.
The pilot activities the Youth Guarantee Trailblazer locations carry out will last 12 months and contribute towards the development of the Youth Guarantee, testing different interventions ahead of a national rollout. This will likely be from April 2025 to March 2026.
What will the 8 Trailblazer areas do?
As part of the work to cut benefits spending by achieving an 80% employment rate, the Labour government’s 8 Trailblazers will support young people to get into employment.
The Trailblazers will act as pilots, testing this localised approach. They will develop, launch, deliver and measure activities that can be rolled out as part of the ‘Youth Guarantee’.
Starting in spring 2025, they will identify the young people who are most at risk of falling out of education and employment (becoming NEET) and match them with job and training opportunities. These young people will get early access to ‘Youth Guarantee’ support as part of this.
Each location will receive funding from the shared £45 million pot to complete this work.
How much funding has each Trailblazer received?
The 16 Trailblazers will receive a £240 million investment. £45 million of this is allocated to Youth Guarantee Trailblazers to kickstart the initiative.
So far, the West Midlands, the East Midlands, Liverpool, and Tees Valley have confirmed that they will each receive up to £5 million of funding.
What will happen to other regions?
Up to £15 million will be made available for regions not selected as trailblazers to allow them to also reduce economic inactivity. Their Get Britain Working plans will be developed by mayoral authorities or local authorities, aligned with their Local Growth Plans.
