Care leavers are young people aged over 16 leaving local authority care.

According to the Department for Education, in 2021/22 there were 45,940 care leavers in England now aged 17 to 21.

The Department for Education’s Keep on Caring policy paper (2016) said care leavers generally experience worse outcomes than their peers across a number of areas.

The National Audit Office’s report, Care leavers’ transition to adulthood (2015), identified poorer life outcomes for care leavers as a “longstanding problem” with a likely high public cost, including in mental health, employment, education, policing and justice services.

This briefing covers the UK Government’s policies to support care leavers in key areas. It primarily focuses on England but includes some information on devolved policies.

Read more here.

In June to August 2023, the number of people aged 16+ in employment was 32.97 million, and the employment rate for people aged 16-64 was 75.7%, down from 76.0% in the previous quarter.

Note only experimental headline data this month.

Employment levels decreased by 82,000 in the last quarter but increased by 216,000 over the last year. They were slightly above pre-pandemic levels.

The UK unemployment rate was 4.2%, and 1.44 million people aged 16+ were unemployed.

Unemployment levels rose in the last quarter and the last year and were 69,000 above pre-pandemic levels.

8.73 million people aged 16-64 were economically inactive, and the inactivity rate was 20.9%. Inactivity levels rose by 74,000 from the previous quarter but fell by 274,000 in the last year. They were 279,000 above their pre-pandemic level.

The number of vacancies fell in the last quarter and over the year to 988,000 in July to September 2023, but remain 187,000 above pre-pandemic levels.

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There was an increase in youth unemployment in the latest quarter with a fall in employment. The number of young people who were economically inactive also increased.

There were 527,000 young people aged 16 to 24 who were unemployed in June to August 2023, an increase of 45,000 from the previous quarter and an increase of 155,000 from a year before.

The unemployment rate (the proportion of the economically active population who are unemployed) for 16- to 24-year-olds was 12.5%. This is up from 11.4% in the previous quarter and from 9.0% from the year before.

The number who are economically inactive (not in or looking for work) increased by 30,000 compared to the previous quarter, though fell by 91,000 compared to the previous year.

The inactivity rate for young people was 38.4%, up from 38.2% in the previous quarter.

Read more here.

New research released recently reveals that the younger generation do not feel able to chase their dream jobs, citing a lack of opportunity (36%) as the number one obstacle.

Other factors that are holding young people from having a dream job are money (35%), lack of self-confidence (32%), lack of experience (33%) and the increased cost of living (30%).

Overall, the younger generation is only planning for the short term, against the backdrop of economic uncertainty.

Sixty per cent of young people say they need to prioritise any job over their dream job now, and 40 per cent have changed their career plans in the past year.

More than half (57%) say they have lowered their long-term aspirations over the past two years, suggesting young people are having to become more pragmatic in what they prioritise when it comes to their working lives.

The cost of living (57%), the UK economy (44%) and their mental health (39%) are cited as having the biggest impact on young people’s futures.

Half of those surveyed say they are not planning beyond the next six months. When asked about their long-term life goals, maintaining good physical and mental health, and living happily were amongst the top answers.

Read more here.

The culture secretary reaffirms her vision for the youth sector at the Youth Futures Foundation (YFF) Connected Future conference.

The speech includes some of what is being done in Government to help our young people achieve their potential. Changing young people’s lives and giving them the best start in life.

Read more here.

Want to know how a particular area compares for employment?

Find our labour market indicators at local and unitary authority level for Great Britain.

You can find estimates of the number of people who are employed, unemployed and economically inactive in any local area. Try the tool.

Read more here.

International comparison’s data on harmonised unemployment rates for major international economies.

• The UK harmonised unemployment rate for Q2 2023 was 4.2%, up from 3.9% in Q1 2023. This was above Germany (3.0%) and the US (3.6%) but below France (7.3%).
• The Eurozone’s rate was 6.5% in Q2 2023, down from 6.6% in Q1, while in the G7 it was unchanged at 4.0%.
• Unemployment rates rose in almost all the OECD countries following the coronavirus outbreak, although the size of the increase varied widely.
• Spain had the highest unemployment rate out of the OECD member states in Q2 2023 at 11.9%, followed by Greece at 11.3%. Czech Republic, Japan and South Korea had the lowest at 2.6%.
• Youth (aged 15-24) unemployment is a major issue in many developed economies at present. In Q2 2023 the youth unemployment rate was 27.7% in Spain, 26.4% in Costa Rica and 25.9% in Greece. It was 12.3% in the UK.

Read more here.

‘Made with Care’ has launched to encourage people with the right qualities to begin a career in adult social care.

The campaign aims to reach millions of people via video on demand, radio, and digital channels.

A range of free and easy-to-use resources will be provided to the adult social care sector to support employers filling in their vacancies.

People looking to make a genuine difference to people’s lives are being encouraged to join the adult social care workforce through a government recruitment campaign launching today.

The ‘Made with Care’ campaign is returning for a third year, with advertising promoting the wide range of opportunities available to people across England to build a career in adult social care and help people live happy, healthy, fulfilling lives.

Running until the end of March 2024, campaign advertising will appear to millions across video on demand platforms such as ITVX, Sky Go and Channel 4; radio and digital audio channels such as Spotify and social media and digital channels like Facebook and Instagram, to direct job seekers to www.adultsocialcare.co.uk.

Read more here.

Teacher recruitment will see a huge boost this academic year with £196 million to attract more teachers across key subjects.

This will fund scholarships, bursaries and salary grants to help thousands of candidates through their initial teacher training (ITT).

Scholarships for those training to teach mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing will now be brought up to £30,000 tax-free, in order to attract more talented teachers in these key subjects to support the delivery of the advanced British standard (ABS).

The ABS is a new single qualification for 16- to 19-year-olds that will bring together the best of A Levels and T Levels, giving students the freedom to take a mix of technical and academic subjects, boosting their skillset and giving students more flexibility over their future career options.

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Young people will get better support and services as the Government supports the training of youth workers with £800,000 of new funding.

More than 500 youth workers and volunteers, who would otherwise be unable to undertake training, will have their course fees fully paid for by the Government.

New bursaries for 500 youth workers to get skills and qualifications to better support young people £800,000 in government funding will mean more vulnerable children and teenagers have someone trained to talk to outside school.

Extra funding so local organisations can work together better to improve their youth offer.

Clearer government guidance to make it easier for local authorities to provide more opportunities and services. Builds on the Government’s ‘National Youth Guarantee’, backed by an investment of more than £500 million.

Read more here.