The Skills Funding Agency will be providing match funding for the London ESF Youth Programme and will be responsible for procuring provision on behalf of the London Enterprise Panel.
The London ESF Youth Programme has been designed as an integrated programme with mutually dependent strands of activity. Many of the strands, which will be procured as separate specifications, are closely linked. The diagram below illustrates the primary linkages we envisage being required between different elements of the youth programme. Providers delivering each strand should, however, be prepared to work with those delivering other strands where this is in the interests of young people.
The London ESF Youth Programme is made up of the following strands.
The NEET Outreach strand will locate young people who are aged 16-24 and NEET but not using Jobcentre Plus services and support their planned progression into sustained education, training or employment. It is intended that this independent and impartial service will provide referrals to the other ESF youth programmes and also to a broad range of mainstream and specialist/targeted provision. The Preventative NEET NEET Outreach Targeted NEET Interventions / Young BAME Careers Guidance ILM Careers Clusters Gang Prevention Youth Talent providers of this strand have to conduct the initial engagement of young people, ‘triage’ their needs and ensure referral onto the most relevant activity to secure young people’s continued participation in education, training or employment. Young people are expected to be referred from the NEET Outreach strand to other strands for the most appropriate activity. The strands that they could be referred to include Targeted NEET Provision, Young BAME, Careers Guidance, and Youth Talent programmes.
As mentioned these strands could take referrals from the NEET Outreach strand and would provide a more substantial and intensive intervention for the young person and aim to address their barriers to full participation in education, training or employment.
Young people who are being supported by the Preventative NEET strand, but who fall out of EET into NEET, may be referred to this project if they meet the eligibility criteria.
The Targeted NEET Interventions strand will also be supported by the specialist services available through the Youth Talent and Careers Guidance programmes.
The Young BAME strand will provide targeted support to young people from particular ethnic minority groups disadvantaged in the labour market to enter work and apprenticeships. It will interact with other strands in a similar way as the Targeted NEET strands.
The Careers Guidance strand provides face-to-face careers guidance to young people who are not otherwise entitled to this service. The providers of this programme have to enable young people to articulate their goals, source the most suitable provision to support the achievement of their goals and take greater responsibility for progressing towards their goals. Providers will therefore need to be able to take referrals and work collaboratively with other ESF programmes, including NEET Outreach, Targeted NEET Interventions, Young BAME and Youth Talent.
The Preventative NEET strand aims to work with young people in learning who have been indicated as being “at risk” of becoming NEET either by their learning institution or local authority. The key objective is to ensure that young people receive the support they need to remain in learning and make a successful transition into a positive further education, training or learning outcome – it is therefore not anticipated that providers delivering the Preventative NEET strand will make referrals to NEET re-engagement activities.
The Youth Talent strand aims to promote a ‘gateway’ for businesses to work with a range of providers and offer traineeships, work placements, internships, employment and apprenticeship opportunities for young people. Many of the other strands will make referrals to this programme to access opportunities with employers.
The Careers Clusters strand aims to establish up to 12 geographic or sector-based Careers Clusters that aim to improve the labour market relevance of education. Made up of around 6 secondary schools and FE colleges, each Careers Cluster will develop and deliver a programme that will support cluster school and college leaders to design a high quality careers offer and a business informed curriculum. There is a close link with the Youth Talent strand as school and FE members of the 12 careers clusters will match and support young people into work placements and internships brokered by the Youth Talent strand.
More information
Information about the contract geography, indicative budget and estimated participant volumes for each of the above strands can be found in the table of Proposed ESF Opt-In Organisation Provision here: https://lep.london/publication/european-social-fund-proposed-optorganisation-provision.
