Tackling unemployment among disadvantaged young people

In July 2015, as part of their strategy to tackle youth unemployment, the Government announced a statutory commitment to achieve three million new apprenticeships by 2020. This will be implemented alongside the Youth Obligation, which from 2017 will provide young claimants with access to a new three week intensive programme of support around employability skills in order to get them ‘work-ready’. After six months, claimants will be expected to apply for an apprenticeship or traineeship, gain work-based skills, undertake a mandatory work placement or face losing their benefit. Vocational training and work experience opportunities have the potential to provide long-term pathways out of unemployment. However, there is concern that these new policy measures will not create opportunities that are appropriate and accessible for the most vulnerable or disadvantaged groups of young people, given the barriers to employment they experience. Centrepoint commissioned the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) to explore the possible implications of these two initiatives for disadvantaged young people. The findings of this research enable Centrepoint to offer constructive advice on how new policies on youth employment should be implemented to ensure they make a meaningful contribution towards helping the hardest to reach enter sustained employment

Intensive Activity Programme trial evaluation: claimant research

These reports evaluate the Intensive Activity Programme (IAP) trial to help new benefit claimants move into work sooner