Young Person's Guarantee: update report March 2023

Future Direction

While the predicted rise in youth unemployment has not been realised, the key principle of the Young Person's Guarantee to ensure all young people have access to an opportunity to work, train or study remains as important now as it did in 2020.

It is now for the Scottish Government, agencies and partners, including the local employability partnerships, to build on these strong foundations and to commit to delivering the Young Person's Guarantee for every young person. That will require collaboration and a willingness to position services to guarantee a positive future/option for every young person.

The Young Person's Guarantee was never intended to be a funding stream and as we move towards mainstreaming this work, the significant future investment in education, skills and employability will support the majority of young people to secure a positive offer. We will move away from managing the funding of additional provision and focus instead on:

• improving sustained leaver destinations through targeting of resources towards young people at risk of not progressing, and driving closer alignment with careers information advice and guidance (CIAG) and other school based offers. This will include working with local authorities, third sector employability, and organisations providing mentoring offers to support those young people who are not attending school;
• signing up employers to support the Young Person's Guarantee through our network of employer-led Developing the Young Workforce Regional groups;
• improving the employer-led Developing the Young Workforce digital and in-school offers to work with and support practitioners in broad general education (BGE) and senior phase, and ensure that learning and choices are informed by the future needs of the economy;
• streamlining the Developing the Young Workforce/Young Person Guarantee digital offer to minimise duplication and ensure that access to the Young Person's Guarantee is simple and efficient for both our young people and employers;
• working with ScotlandIS and Developing the Young Workforce Glasgow to Spread the learning from Digital Critical Friends so that we support computer science teachers across Scotland to connect with industry and encourage more young people to take up computer science as a subject;
• continuing to bring an employer voice to the future design, purpose and principles of post-school education and skills system;
• exploring the potential to introduce more career focussed teacher training;
• giving young people sustainable skills for now and the future, including green careers.

We have been inspired by the commitment from employers in helping to create opportunities for young people through the Young Person's Guarantee and will continue to seek their views and contributions through the development and implementation of future skills provision. The high level of engagement from employers illustrates their commitment to supporting young people. We will seek to build on the positive relationships we have developed through Developing the Young Workforce and the Young Person's Guarantee to continue to enhance employer leadership across the system. The recommendations from the Developing the Young Workforce Evaluations, due to be published in March 2023, will also support this work.

Local Partnership Case Study – Falkirk Council, Employment and Training Unit (ETU)

Ciaran is a driven young man who showed real determination in finding his ideal job in an administration role. After leaving school, Ciaran (18) completed a business administration course at college, but found it difficult to find work that fitted in with his responsibilities – he shares caring responsibilities with his dad for his twin sisters, while his mum works full time. Rather than stay at home, he found part-time work in a local corner shop and, around the same time, linked up with the Employment and Training Unit (ETU).

Ciaran's drive to find fair work was clear and ETU provided assistance with CVs and job applications, as well as linking in with local employers to help him make that next important move. As a result of everyone's efforts, Ciaran secured a full-time role with All Truck and is now training as a site supervisor while doing a higher level administration course to get a Diploma. Ciaran has already successfully completed his first unit.

Davie Russell at All Truck comments:

'Ciaran is settling in really well, he works well with colleagues and is gaining confidence. As a local employer, All Truck is keen to support young people make the transition into work and we've worked in partnership with ETU for a number of years.'

Sarah McCulley, Service Manager at ETU explains:

'Young people are facing many challenges in the middle of this pandemic, particularly as they try to enter the labour market. ETU is meeting these challenges head on, delivering against the Scottish Government targets set out under the Young Person's Guarantee. This aims to offer every young person aged between 16 and 24 the opportunity to study at university or college, take part in an apprenticeship programme, take up a job or work experience, or participate in a formal volunteering or training programme according to their own personal circumstances.'