Closing the employment gap for young people with low level mental health needs

At least 6.5% of young people age 16-18 are not in education employment or training (NEET). The UK has the third highest percentage of early leavers from education and training in the EU and 3/4 of mental health conditions start by the age of 24. Young people’s level of educational attainment and their mental and emotional wellbeing can significantly impair their ability to apply for, obtain and maintain work. Particular groups of young people can be disproportionately affected by these issues.

The Department of Health and Social Care has funded a consortium of organisations led by the Young People’s Health Partnership to develop a resource to help guide interventions in this area. We will be engaging with young people, employers, VCSE organisations, mental health providers and Department of Work and Pensions staff to understand strategies being employed to support young people, innovative and promising practice and what employers need to support them to engage with young people affected by mental health needs.

This work is part of the additional work programme of the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, a group of 21 organisations that have been brought together to bring the voluntary sector’s voice and expertise into national policymaking.  Led by Young People’s Health Partnership, the project is being delivered by the following members of the Alliance:

• Association of Mental Health Providers, Mental Health Consortium
• Carers Trust
• Friends, Families and Travellers
• Men’s Health Forum
• Nacro
• NAVCA
• The National LGB&T Partnership

As part of this project, we are issuing a call for examples of existing and emerging good practice in supporting young people to access and remain in employment and examples of national and local employment support. The evidence provided will contribute to the development of resources to highlight solutions and opportunities for action which will be shared with employers, skills support staff, commissioners, public bodies and VCSE organisations.

We are holding a short consultation on this topic,
please respond by participating in this survey.

Using the template, please share any examples of work being undertaken currently or previously that focus on supporting young people into work and/or supporting young people to retain their job. We will share a range of practice examples in the resource which is developed from this project.  By following this format, examples can also be submitted to PHE for review and inclusion in their practice examples collection.

If you are engaged in multiple projects supporting these young people to access and remain in employment, please complete a separate template for each activity. If the information in any of the sections is not available, please leave them blank.

Please return any examples to dania@amhp.org.uk as soon as possible.

If you have any questions about the project, please contact dania@amhp.org.uk