Celebrating our 2023 successes – and preparing for a brilliant 2024! 

With another year tucked under our belt, it won’t be long before Futures is turning 30. It’s a big milestone to hit, but we know that reaching big milestones is only made possible by collecting small successes along the way – so here are some of the things we’re celebrating from the last year!  

Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, and we’re thrilled to be able to report so many positives from the past year: 

In just 8 months – from April to November – our work with adults in need of careers advice supported over 33,000 customers across the East Midlands and East of England, helping 6,421 people into jobs and 9,233 people into learning outcomes such as apprenticeships or training courses.  

Our teams have been working tirelessly and have successfully moved 73% of the young people they’ve supported into employment, education, or training.  

From January to July, we supported 155 disadvantaged young people, and helped 61 of them settle into work or learning, with more choosing to begin college in September using a unique funding model known as a social investment bond. 

We’ve been busy, offering information and advice to 4640 young people or parents of young people with special educational needs and disabilities. 

We helped a further 1260 customers, with 147 unemployed people finding employment and 172 more beginning their job search.  

One of our teams secured a 90% success rate for their customers, with 414 people starting employment, education or training opportunities.  

We supported 75% of our post-16 participants to move into work or further education, and 99.5% of pre-16 participants received an offer of a post-16 school placement. 

We were able to offer 55 young people supported internships, with 20 moving into employment or training at the end of their journey.  

Of the 1140 students we supported, 90% successfully moved into employment, education or training. 

Elsewhere, our people were hard at work, taking on 1499 customers and achieving 451 outcomes, as well as 819 first job starts and 219 second job starts. 

We supported 405 learners to enrol on our courses, with 86.4% achieving a qualification at the end and 86% of our NHS learners securing employment within the NHS. Further to that, over 200 learners across Nottinghamshire have been able to improve their Maths skills with us. 

And it’s not just our customers who can celebrate – it’s us, too! 

This year, we’ll begin delivering People and Skills programmes to support the economically inactive through UKSPF. 

We’ve successfully bid with our partners, Inspire Learning and the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce, to secure a £700,000 service delivering employment support to unemployed people with primary health conditions in Nottingham City.  

We surveyed 26 public employers and partners across the D2N2 area, including universities, councils, FE colleges and NHS trusts, to assess their essential skills needs and influence local skills policy, as part of our work facilitating the D2N2 Public Services Compact.  

We’ve also created a successful pilot programme, working with Citizens Advice Broxtowe to deliver the National Careers Service alongside their financial inclusion and debt advisers. The programme aims to assist the career progression of those suffering with the effects of the cost-of-living crisis. 

Across our social media channels, we’ve grown to 15,996 followers, and people have engaged with our posts 27,810 times!  

“2023 has seen a significant change in the funding landscape we operate within, and we’re so proud of the teams who have worked on these life-changing programmes, helping our customers to get onto the right track and achieve more with their lives. In 2024, we’ll be continuing our work to support the people in our communities with new services.” Jennie Willock, CEO of Futures. 

We look forward to spending the next year working alongside the people, businesses and communities who need our support – if that’s you, reach out today and start your future with us.