Hello again,

Core to Movement to Work is the belief that it’s through collaboration we can have the most impact.  Each employer, charity and training provider makes a positive impact, but working together we can systematically make a bigger impact for the young people we support.  Those stuck in the “no experience, no job” cycle who don’t have the support network.  There is a lot of great work out there but it’s being done in silos, the interconnectivity is poor and therefore the experience for mentors and young people is extremely confusing.

I think it is all of our responsibility to address that and at Movement to Work we are putting our efforts in this space.  The work we are doing with the Inclusive Economy Partnership, West Midlands Combined Authority, DWP and many other organisations is all about connecting the ecosystem on a systemic and human level.  We’ve made great progress with over 1000 placements pledged, nearly 500 commenced and we’re tracking well on outcomes.  However this takes resource, we must all invest time and money to make this work and not much commissioning is pointed in this direction.

That said, with the right resource in place there is a lot we can do. We can create sector talent pipelines, we can run cross sector programmes, we can ensure that the ecosystem is in place to support those who aren’t successful first time, so that they all continue to move in a positive direction.  All of these are things we have ambition to do, or have started to implement across the Movement to Work network.

On this point of collaboration I want to call out a programme that BT piloted in the West Midlands and have just completed in London. They brought all of their expertise (and funding) to the mentoring, digital skills and employability support for the candidates. But crucially they worked with a number of employers to provide variety in the work placement offer and then at the end of the programme invited multiple employers as diverse as Accenture, Diageo, BUPA, Morgan Sindall and the Civil Service to a recruitment fair and celebration event giving the young people multiple routes to employment.  It is this sort of collaboration that can make a difference to individuals and ensure a better outcome for every young person we invest in.

As we move forward we are keen to take the premise of this model and work with many more of you on collaborative programmes.  We are looking to invest more time to evolve our work in the West Midlands and also kick off some work in the North East and North West. Please get in touch it you’d like to know more.

James Ashall, CEO Movement to Work