Youth Guarantee
The Youth Guarantee is a Government initiative designed to ensure that every young person aged 18 to 21 in England can access support to move into employment, education, training or an apprenticeship. The programme focuses particularly on young people who are at risk of becoming, or who are already, not in education, employment or training (NEET). It includes local Youth Guarantee Trailblazers that test new approaches to engaging and supporting young people.
Although the Youth Guarantee is not specific to adult social care, it provides an important recruitment pipeline for the sector. Adult social care is one of the sectors identified for training and employment opportunities under wider government plans to help young people gain skills and enter work.
The programme can help introduce young people to:
- Care and support careers
- Apprenticeships in adult social care
- Skills and employability programmes linked to care roles
- Work experience and training opportunities that lead to employment
Key objectives
- Ensure all young people have access to employment, education or training opportunities
- Reduce the number of young people who are NEET
- Improve long-term employment outcomes
- Address barriers to work through tailored local support
- Connect young people to sectors experiencing workforce shortages, including health and social care
Young people may receive:
- Careers advice and guidance
- Training and skills development
- Work experience opportunities
- Apprenticeship pathways
- Intensive employment support and job matching
These activities can help social care employers attract younger workers and develop a future workforce pipeline
Key benefits
...for Adult Social Care providers
- Access to younger recruits entering the labour market
- Opportunities to promote careers in care
- Support for workforce succession planning
- Connections with local employment and skills programmes
...for young people
- Access to training, education and employment opportunities
- Support to overcome barriers to work
- Opportunities to develop skills and gain workplace experience
- Entry routes into meaningful careers, including adult social care
