‘Youth workers changed my life – now they must be central to Labour’s mission to end youth unemployment’

At last year’s Labour Party Conference, the Prime Minister set out a bold ambition – to eradicate youth unemployment. It’s a goal that speaks to the best of our Labour values – ensuring every young person has the chance to build a secure, fulfilling future and thrive.

It’s this value that drew me to the Labour Party. I left sixth form early, questioning my ability and feeling directionless. At the time, I couldn’t see a path ahead, let alone have imagined representing my community as the Member of Parliament for Hertford and Stortford. I entered politics because, almost a decade on, too many young people in a similar position are being left behind, unable to access the support they need to get on in life.

Wasted talent

As we meet again in Liverpool, a city and region leading the way as one of the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers supporting thousands of young people into education, training and work, we’ve seen welcome progress in developing solutions to tackle youth unemployment. Yet the latest figures show just how complex and stubborn this long-standing challenge is, and why it demands our sustained attention.

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Over the last two years, the number of 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment, or training (NEET) reached its highest level in a decade, now standing at a staggering one in eight. This represents nearly one million young people and carries the risk of a lost generation. Among them, around 600,000 are economically inactive, neither working nor actively job-hunting, and therefore disconnected from mainstream employment services.

For young people, missing out on earning or learning early in life can have devastating consequences. For the nation, it means wasted talent and weaker growth. There is a significant prize attached to Labour’s vision for the next generation. Research shows that reducing the UK’s NEET rate in line with the Netherlands, the OECD’s best performer, could see 500,000 more young people in employment and a £69 billion boost to GDP.

But this cannot be achieved through a stronger employment and skills offer alone. We must be far more effective in identifying, reaching and engaging young people to bridge them into support, particularly for the most marginalised who often lose faith in the system.

Unique potential

A new paper from the Youth Futures Foundation, the national What Works Centre for youth employment, identifies this ‘engagement’ gap and explores the role trusted adult relationships can play in the systems change required to truly tackle the NEET challenge. This comes at an important juncture, as the government’s three flagship offers for young people – the National Youth Strategy, Young Futures Hubs and the Youth Guarantee move ahead.

A growing evidence base suggests that trusted adult relationships – with youth workers, teachers, mentors, and other youth-focused practitioners – are critical interlockers. They have the unique potential to help identify and engage harder-to-reach inactive young people.

For those left falling through the cracks of existing structures, trusted adults can build confidence and resilience, address barriers across education, training, mental health or employment, act as a gateway to proven interventions, and reduce the risk of disengagement through advocacy and guidance.

It was a youth worker named Russell who helped me to build my confidence and find the path that was right for me. In doing so, he altered the course of my life. Spending time at my local youth club as a teenager, I saw Russell and a team of youth workers do the same for countless other young people, listening without judgement, offering vital support, helping us to realise our potential and setting us on a positive journey.

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Bringing together the trusted adult support historically seen as the preserve of the ‘youth sector’ with employment and skills provision is already being explored at a local level in many Youth Guarantee Trailblazer areas. There is much we can learn from this nationally. Through the government’s mission-driven approach, we have a real opportunity to cut across siloed policy areas and build strategic cross-departmental coherence around a shared, long-term vision for young people’s outcomes, with achieving good work as a central pillar.

Capturing potential

The Youth Futures Foundation offers a roadmap for embedding this approach. By aligning the regional footprints of Young Futures Hubs, Youth Guarantee Trailblazers and Youth Employment Hubs with other place-based youth initiatives and co-located services, the government can lock in operational links between youth work, careers advice, training and employment support and reach young people where they are.

Youth Guarantee Trailblazers and future rollout areas should be empowered to overlay and integrate trusted adult relationships into delivery, ensuring all young people, especially those who are economically inactive, can access and rely on this support.  

The National Youth Strategy should capture the broad potential of trusted adults, including their role in youth employment outcomes, underpinned by a cross-sector, evidence-based definition. 

Young Futures Hubs should be positioned as centres of excellence for relational practice, with trusted adults forming the foundation of coordinated provision for young people across education, employment, health, youth services and youth violence prevention.

Real progress on breaking down barriers to opportunity and the prosperity benefits it promises will depend on recognising that it is not just about policies and programmes, but about people. 

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Trusted adults are the missing link. I know from my own experience that they can transform a young person’s journey and outcomes, helping them to overcome hurdles and realise their own potential. By placing these relationships at the heart of Labour’s aspiration for youth employment, we can deliver the step change our country needs and young people deserve, ensuring no one is left behind.

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