Author: Info MTW

Farewell to Jan Palin, outgoing Head of Insight and Innovation

Throughout my time at the Movement, I have continued to ‘pinch’ myself every day working with a fabulous dynamic and driven team whose sole mission is to level the playing field for young people. Young people matter – we should never forget that!

From the outset I was determined to ensure young people were always considered. I was driven to ensure greater synergy with not just my own department but across the whole Civil Service. For my colleagues at the Movement, I was determined to share the fabulous work DWP does day in and day out; I arranged introductions, visits to Jobcentres and introduced new ways of working for our employer and partner networks.

I am so proud that the Movement is now linked with Youth Hubs across the country, helping to ensure we meet young people where they feel comfortable; taking our employers and partners into sites to support young people into employment.

 

This year we have introduced the Youth Voice programme, a first for the charity; comprising of face-to-face sessions where we spoke directly to young people, and a digital platform which helps to capture the voice of thousands of young people across the UK about their employment journeys. This initiative will enable the charity to capture real-time, UK-wide, data-driven insights from young people aged 16-30; helping us to understand the
needs of our young people more.

I was determined to prove to employers and partners what the benefits of engaging with the Movement are, so I worked in partnership with researchers at Oxford Insights and employers from both the public and private sectors to calculate and report on the direct impact of MtW programmes. We can now demonstrate the return on investment for our employers, showing KPI’s such as increased retention and the benefits of employing a more diverse workforce. Engaging with the Movement gives monetary return on investment demonstrating that #youngpeoplework! It makes sense.

Throughout my time at the Movement, I have continued to ‘pinch’ myself every day working with a fabulous dynamic and driven team whose sole mission is to level the playing field for young people. Young people matter – we should never forget that!

The absolute highlight for me was this year’s CEO Summit and Youth Employability Awards – where we celebrated our 10-year anniversary. For me – ‘it was like a wedding! Full of laughter, tears, and what a tremendous team achievement. To hear the heart-warming stories of the lives of young people; that’s what drives me.’

I have learnt so much working with such a small but mighty team, everyone’s passion and determination is infectious. Everyone at the Movement loves meeting and talking with young people – it is those young people who matter. We all love changing lives, and I want to thank each one on the team for their friendship and support.

New government employment support plan

New Back to Work Plan to help up to 1,100,000 people with long-term health conditions, disabilities, or long-term unemployment to look for and stay in work.

Additional support comes alongside tougher sanctions for people who don’t look for work, as part of the next generation of welfare reforms.

Includes exploring reforms of the fit note system, expansion of available treatment and employment support, and formal launch of the WorkWell service to help people start, stay, and succeed in work.

Getting more people into work and ensuring work pays remains a key priority for the government. It is important for growing the UK economy, managing inflation, controlling spending, and improving living standards. Getting more people into good jobs is also good for those individuals and the best route out of poverty.

Written statements – Written questions, answers and statements – UK Parliament

Read more here.

Oxfordshire Advanced Skills (OAS)

A new £13m extension has been opened at Oxfordshire Advanced Skills, at UKAEA’s Culham Campus, launching new opportunities for apprentices.

The opening of the new facility completes the third phase of OAS development. The investment in the centre totals over £30 million, funded by the Fusion Foundations Programme, a government initiative to enable the delivery of fusion energy, which can provide sustainable energy for future generations, by developing infrastructure, facilities, and skills in the UK.

Read more here.

Skills training – innovative projects

People across the country set to benefit from more skills training, with £200 million to help them launch careers in key industries.

More than £200 million has been announced recently to support colleges and universities to offer more training opportunities in key industries, such as the growing green sector. Investment is being targeted to address the specific skills needs of each region, which local businesses and employers have identified as priority sectors in their local skills improvement plans (LSIPs), giving them access to the skilled workforce they need to grow.

Demand for green skills is set to rise as the government works to create energy security and the UK heads towards net zero. The government’s net zero growth plan predicts that the transition to a green and sustainable future will support hundreds of thousands of exciting green job opportunities in areas such as heat pump installation and solar panel maintenance, electric vehicle manufacturing and environmental consultancy.

The funding will also make sure more people can access higher technical qualifications – that sit between A level, T levels and degrees – to gain in-demand skills including digital, health care and engineering as an alternative to a traditional three-year degree. HTQs are designed in close collaboration with employers, so they equip students with the skills they need to go onto further study or straight into a good job.

Read more here.

Government help for disabled university students

Hundreds of thousands of disabled university and higher education students are set to benefit from a new Government planner to help ease their transition into work.

Following a successful pilot at several top universities, the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Adjustment Planner will be rolled out to all students in higher education in time for the next academic year.

The voluntary planner will collate the relevant needs of students which can then be simply passed on to employers – negating the need for repeated assessments and conversations for adjustments such as specific desks and chairs, assistive software or arranging travel to the workplace.

The planner will also reduce the need for an Access to Work assessment and enable all students exiting higher education to benefit from the scheme faster. This will ensure disabled people have the equipment they need to work effectively.

The planner also contains helpful advice on what types of funding and government support is available to help employers unlock the potential of millions of disabled people across the UK.

Read more here.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

The UN has marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December since 1992, to spread the word on disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities.

The day also aims to draw attention to the benefits to society of including persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic, and cultural life.

This year is the 29th year of celebration, the theme for 2023 is “United in action to rescue and achieve the SDGs for, with and by persons with disabilities“. The day marks the need for innovation and transformative solutions for inclusive development, covering three key themes:

*Innovations in disability inclusive employment development

*Innovation for disability inclusive development in reducing inequality

*Innovation for disability inclusive development

Read more here.

Employer focus on improving social mobility

Research has found that more companies are reducing barriers to opportunity for young people, so that what their parents did, where they grew up and the school they attended, do not limit their chances.

The Social Mobility Employer Index 2023 of 143 organisations discovered that many employers have reduced minimum grade restrictions for graduates, apprentices and school leavers to ensure these routes into work are available to people with all backgrounds.

In addition, the survey found that 56.8 per cent of index entrants employ contextual recruitment, while 32.6 per cent do not consider grades at all.

The report found that, although there is progress, “too many employers are still offering unpaid internships”. It said: “This contributes to young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds being pushed out of opportunities that improve employability.”

Read more here.

National Apprenticeship Week

National Apprenticeship will be taking place Monday 5th February to Sunday 11th February 2024. Next year will be the 17th annual celebration of apprenticeships.

The theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2024 is “Skills for Life”. We encourage everyone to consider how apprenticeships can help individuals to develop the skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career, and employers to develop a workforce with future ready skills. The National Apprenticeship Week website has more information and a toolkit to help you plan and promote your activities.

Read more here.

The Gender Pay Gap

The gender pay gap measures the difference between average (median) hourly earnings of men and women, usually shown by the percentage men earn more than women.

How big is the gender pay gap:

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), median hourly pay for full-time employees was 7.7% less for women than for men in April 2023, while median hourly pay for part-time employees was 3.3% higher for women than for men (figures exclude overtime pay). The median is the point at which half of employees earn more and half earn less. It is regarded a better measure of pay of the ‘typical’ employee than taking an average.

Because a larger proportion of women are employed part-time, and part-time workers tend to earn less per hour, the gender pay gap for all employees is considerably larger than the full-time and part-time gaps. Median pay for all employees was 14.3% less for women than for men in April 2023.

The full-time pay gap has been getting smaller since 1997 and the overall pay gap has also decreased over the period. The part-time pay gap has generally remained small and negative, with women earning more than men on average.

 

Why is there a gender pay gap?

The size of the gender pay gap depends on several factors, including:

  • Age: There is little difference in median hourly pay for male and female full-time employees aged in their 20s and 30s, but a substantial gap emerges among full-time employees aged 40 and over. This links to parenthood – the gap between male and female hourly earnings grows gradually but steadily in the years after parents have their first child.
  • Occupation: The gap tends to be smaller for occupation groups where a larger proportion of employees are women.
  • Industry: The pay gap is largest in the financial and insurance industry, and smallest in the accommodation and food services industry.
  • Public and private sector: For full-time workers, the pay gap is slightly smaller in the public sector than the private sector. There is a negligible gender pay gap for part-time workers in the private sector, which contrasts with a large part-time pay gap in the public sector.
  • Region and nation: The full-time gender pay gap is highest in the South East and London and negative in Northern Ireland.
  • Pay: The highest earners have a larger pay gap than the lowest earners.

Read more here.