| Description | The report maps the range and quality of employability support services available to disengaged young people (aged 16-24) in three locations across Scotland and recommends an effective service framework for this client group. |
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| ISBN | |
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| Official Print Publication Date | |
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| Website Publication Date | October 31, 2005 |
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Listen
Eddy Adams and David Smart
ISBN 0 7559 2765 6
This document is also available in pdf format (188k)
Introduction
This report presents the findings from a study commissioned by the Transitions To Work team within the Scottish Executive. The study was carried out by two independent consultants, Eddy Adams and David Smart, who have worked extensively in this area. The focus of the work was on the range and quality of employability support services available to young people (aged 16-24) in three locations across Scotland. The study was undertaken between November 2004 and February 2005 and involved an urban area (Drumchapel), a rural area (Lochaber) and a semi-rural area (East Lothian). The specific objectives of the study were to present the strengths and weaknesses of current support arrangements and to recommend an effective service framework for this client group.
Main Findings
- Although funding has been increased, it is widely dispersed amongst agencies and local authority departments. This hinders complementary working which, although improving, has some way to go. The short term nature of many funding streams also weakens the development of the local area infrastructure, promoting 'innovation' above sustained support for effective interventions.
- There is a need for clear leadership at local and national level. This is lacking in the three localities in relation to tackling employability. This is reflected in the formal partnership structures, which are weakened by the absence of shared targets.
- Partnerships are also weakened by the absence of key strategic players - most notably Health and Social Work. Their disengagement suggests a failure to develop a shared understanding of the employability agenda and the way in which these services contribute to it.
- Although Careers Scotland keyworkers have been credited with success, their low profile and isolation has resulted in important staff members leaving these jobs. Sustaining the progress made in working with these clients will require the retention of these experienced workers.
About This Study
The study method involved a combination of desk research, and fieldwork at local and national levels. The approach in the three localities involved stakeholder workshops as well as interviews and focus groups with service commissioners, service managers, front line staff and service users. The study was overseen by a Short Life Working Group established by the Beattie National Action Group.
The study focus was not on a homogeneous group, but on a diverse range of young people facing a variety of severe barriers to employability. These include poor mental health, physical disabilities, homelessness, drug/alcohol issues, teenage pregnancies, offending histories and family problems. It is not unusual for these young people to present with more than one of these issues. However, despite this diversity they often share a number of characteristics - including poor self-esteem, low qualification levels and basic skills problems.
Our primary focus for this study was on those young people who are at the front end of the employability pipeline. Their first steps in engaging with support services are often focused on stabilising their behaviours to create a platform for their personal development. Their pathway is rarely linear, and evidence suggests that at this front end they may experiment with a number of support providers, and so may dip in and out of our radar.
The scale of the problem
The available data for this group highlights its diversity, but also clearly indicates the scale of the problem. Amongst other things, it shows that, of the total population of 16-24 year-olds, numbering 566,477:
- 178,004 (31%) are economically inactive (excluding students)
- 104,384 of them have never worked
- There is significant local area variation, with the position worst in Glasgow
- 65,634 of the target group have no qualifications
- 21,434 people in this age group were homeless in 2003/04
- 34,911 (6%) had a limiting long term illness in 2001
- 9,220 women aged 13-19 were pregnant in 2003 (701 of them were under 16)
- 665 16/17 year olds left care with no qualifications in 2003/04
The localities studied
The study considered three very different localities:
- Drumchapel in Glasgow, with a falling population of 13,700, is one of the most deprived areas in the country and has an economic inactivity rate of 38%.
- East Lothian, where 16,200 of its 90,000 population commute to Edinburgh's buoyant labour market. The area's prosperity masks pockets of deprivation, and data shows that almost 13% of 16-24s have no qualifications - higher than the national average - and that 20% of the S4 roll achieved within the lowest 20% educational tariff scores in Scotland in 2002/03.
- Lochaber, covers 4,450 square kilometres of the South West Highlands, but its population is only 18,470. Population decline, weak transport infrastructure, seasonal employment patterns and a prevalence of micro-businesses characterise the area. Although registered unemployment rates are low (2.5%) Lochaber suffers from several challenges which include a shortage of skilled labour, relatively high proportions of people on inactive benefits, with a clustering of opportunities in the Fort William area.
What works
However, despite the diversity of the three areas, there are strong shared messages about what works well - and what does not. The features of effective engagement and support for this target group include:
- Clear leadership and direction - at the local and national level
- Formal partnership structures with clearly defined shared targets - complemented by less formal networks which promote operational collaboration
- Written agreements and protocols which clarify roles and responsibilities and underpin joint working
- Approaches which support improved inter-agency working and shared understanding - these include co-terminus working, joint resourcing, shared assessment and training
- Trust and recognition around respective strengths and weaknesses - this includes clear recognition within the statutory sector of the added value contributed by the voluntary sector
- Effective use of keyworker provision - providing a pivotal link between services which bridge the 'social' and 'economic' divides
- Strong employer engagement from the earliest stages
- Proactive outreach approaches which adopt 'youthwork' type methods - out of hours work focused on those not in the system
- Effective use of case studies - useful for engaging influencers including parents and teachers
Weaknesses in the three areas
We have also seen shared weaknesses in all three of these localities, which are likely to be typical across much of the country. The most significant of these are:
- Evidence of a highly congested landscape where lack of leadership and direction adds to the challenge of developing a coherent approach
- Weak partnership structures with unclear objectives and confusion between strategic and delivery roles
- Misunderstandings around the 'employability pipeline' and the concept that interventions around homelessness, drugs and other issues are the vital front end of this transition
- Disengagement amongst key statutory partners in some areas - most notably Health and Social Work - and failure to establish a shared understanding of the mutual benefits in this sphere
- Lack of continuity amongst structures - constant structural change places focus on the structures themselves, rather than the problems they are designed to address
- Funding streams which are fragmented and compartmentalised - although there is more money in the system, it is diluted across a myriad of organisations and local authority departments - with little overall sense of how it connects
- Short term funding models which focus on 'innovation' at the expense of sustaining established approaches which have been proven to work
- A focus on young people who are already in the system
- Undervaluing of the keyworker role and a failure to retain experienced staff
- Undeveloped role of the public sector as a socially responsible employer
- Weaknesses in monitoring and data sharing
Conclusion
We conclude that on the basis of the available evidence in these three locations, the picture is improving but we still have some way to go (see full report for recommendations). In recent years more money has been made available to support employability, and there is a much wider recognition that no single agency can address these issues in isolation. From the Beattie projects, New Futures and interventions like Get Ready For Work we have learned the value of approaches which are client-centred, holistic and multi-agency.
However, at the local level we can see that this is a long term process where success will only be achieved through sustainable cultural and behavioural change. The Scottish Executive has an important role to play in promoting and supporting this, particularly through ensuring that policy drivers are aligned and funding is used to catalyse change and improve performance. The forthcoming Employability Framework provides an opportunity to take this change agenda forward.
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