New “Partnership for Youth Employment & Skills Opportunity”

The 5% Club and Youth Employment UK are pleased to announce a new “Partnership for Youth Employment & Skills Opportunity” which will see them working more closely and collaborating more to maximise their combined effect in reducing youth unemployment.

As youth unemployment remains stubbornly higher than that for the wider working age population, this new partnership will shape and focus the activity which best helps young people at the challenging “transition to work” stage and will include a range of initiatives that will raise the awareness of the pathways to employment for young people. It will also shape and encourage positive employer action to both maximise the presented opportunities and remove unnecessary or unseen barriers to quality youth employment and skills development opportunities.

At a time when there is an unprecedented demand for skills across the country and throughout all sectors of the economy, the partners are keen to access those young people who as yet have been unable to connect to employers and employment. Their shared mission is to challenge established norms and ensure the wealth of talent within these often-overlooked areas of our society is maximised in full.

The partners are well fitted for this collaboration, with Youth Employment UK tackling youth unemployment by championing young people, connecting communities and changing the employment landscape; The 5% Club strives to inspire positive employer action for increased and accessible “earn & learn” schemes. In moving forward, they intend to produce shared thought leadership articles and expert opinion, Employer Insight and Learning Events, and an expansion and closer linkage of their employer validation schemes – The Good Youth Employment Charter and The 5% Club Employer Audit (Gold, Silver and Bronze membership).

Laura-Jane Rawlings, Founder and CEO of Youth Employment UK said, “We understand how complex the landscape is for both young people and employers, which is why this partnership is going to be so valuable. In the 2021 Youth Voice Census we heard from young people about their lack of confidence that they will be able to find good quality jobs where they live. Improving the number and quality of training pathways for young people will be at the core of this partnership and connecting those young people to opportunities will be a key component. 

Mark Cameron OBE, CEO of The 5% Club said, “This new partnership builds on The 5% Club purpose and provides a crucial lens through which we can focus our activity for the benefit of those young people who struggle with the transition-to-work. As we enter this new post-pandemic, post-BREXIT era we will combine our efforts to understand and then remove the persistent barriers to employment faced by young people.”

He adds, “The 5% Club is well placed for this challenge, with our membership now numbering over 650 Employers, representing 1.5m workers and more than 89,000 staff members on earn & learn schemes. We have a track record of inspiring our members to create opportunities using workplace learning, and it is clear there is a need to redouble efforts in support of Young People in particular”.