FOCUSING ON NEETS CREATING POSITIVE PROGRESSION OPPORTUNITIES

Heather Freeman - Regional Project Manager Ben Wyse - Deputy Project Manager

ESF Funded NEET Projects – East of England  Youth East 2 (Kick Start Your Future) NEET or at risk of disengaging aged (4071) Start April 2011/ End December 2013  Youth East Works YEW (Pathways to Apprenticeships) NEETs wishing to engage in work based training through apprenticeships aged (839) Start April 2011 / End December 2012 Awarded following the successful completion of two similar projects 2009/2010

Youth East 1 – Results (16-19) TargetAchieved% Starts % Qualifications % Progression %

Herts Youth – Results (14-16) TargetAchieved% Starts335/ % Qualifications302/ % Progressions %

County Starts Targets – Youth East 2 (14-19) CountyStarts Cambs620 Essex1612 Herts636 Norfolk626 Suffolk577 Total4071

Hertfordshire Providers  Essex Training Centre  Hertford Regional College  North Herts College  Oaklands College  West Herts College  Positive Strides  Ridgemond Training   Wheels  YMCA Training  SPS

County Starts Target - Youth East Works (16-19) CountyStarts Cambs125 Essex323 Herts138 Norfolk135 Suffolk118 Total839

Hertfordshire Providers  Hertford Regional College  Oaklands College  North Herts College  West Herts College

Managing a regional project to address the needs of NEET young people Strengths:  Regional lead with local perspective  Centrally managed profiles / flexibility to meet demand  Flexible/peripatetic providers  Consistent approach to quality  Shared good practice  Partnership rather than competition  Bespoke MI system  Robust audit trail  Dedicated resource

Managing a regional project to address the needs of NEET young people Challenges:  Project volumes v growing NEETs  Stakeholder expectations  3 rd generation worklessness/benefit trap  Economic tensions  Travel  Cohort mix  Multi levels of capability  Much reduced referral resource in some counties  Dealing with poor levels of literacy, numeracy and language skills

How do we engage with and recruit young people?  Tasters / Incentives  Positive promotion / word of mouth  Short and interesting – something different  Seamless progression available immediately  Multi agency approach – holistic projects  Work experience / project leads into work  Good staff with the right experience and attitude  Good / current information for referral partners  Use technology to approach young people  Relationship with schools – preventative work  Flexible provision linked to curriculum 14-16

Encouraging employers to give NEET young people an opportunity  Providers funded for starts and completions on work tasters  Pre Apprenticeship Academies – aspire to work from the start  Eligible SMEs paid for Supported Placement opportunity £300 start, £500 milestones and £1000 when convert to a full Apprenticeship – up to 26 weeks, learner paid a training allowance until they start the Apprenticeship  Employer open evenings – sector based (targeted promotion)  Work focussed qualifications (Work Skills) – skills that employers want e.g.  Attitudes and behaviours  Working with others / alone  Listening skills / following instructions / speaking skills  Problem solving  Communication / confidence

Group Task “A significant number of NEET young people dip in and out of programmes remaining NEET until they can claim a benefit” How do we prevent the NEET ‘churn’ and ensure sustained progression?

Consider Training ProviderMentors SchoolAmbassadors ConnexionsCommunication channels EmployersTracking ParentsIncentives

Aims Identify three major barriers that cause the ‘churn’ Identify three actions to address the barriers