We are delighted to announce the following nominees for the upcoming MtW Youth Employability Awards on 1st April! Congratulations to all these incredible nominees—you should all be so proud of yourselves!

Best Newcomer – Employer

• Hays
• Randstad UK&I

Best Newcomer – Partner

• AVIARD Inspires / The AMANI Project
• Caretrade Charitable Trust
• Key4Life
• Street League

Employer of the Year

• BAE Systems
• Care Leavers Into Careers
• DWP
• St George
• Thames Water
• Willis Towers Watson

Mentor of the Year

• Amani Simpson – Aviard Inspires / The AMANI Project
• Blanch Cameron-Smith – M&S
• Bristol Temple Street Movement to Work Team – DWP
• Carla Ballard – DWP
• Catherine Legg – DWP
• Darren Holland – DWP
• Debbie Miller – DWP
• Eleanor Roper – Springboard UK
• Frazer Rogers – BAE Systems
• Gary Bell – DWP
• Ishtiaq Ahmed – DWP
• Izzy Miller – Pathway CTM
• Jayne Barrett – DWP
• Keith Halliwell – DWP
• Kieran McVey – Care UK
• Laura Mustoe – DWP
• Leisel Quinn – Catch 22
• Lorraine Coyle-McLaren – Springboard UK
• Mary Jacobs – DWP
• Naomi Pitt – DWP
• Paul Webster – DWP
• Richard McGowan – Springboard UK
• Rosie Barrett – Catch 22
• Sam Meakings & Rob Dell – DWP
• Sarah Browning – Springboard UK
• Shelby Bovingdon – DWP
• Shelly Larsen-McHugh – Manpower Group
• Shirley Lynch – Northampton Saints Foundation
• Susan Dunn – DWP
• Teresa Carthy – DWP
• Wayne Sattaur – Springboard UK
• William Holt – DWP
• Yuliia Salionovych – Shaw Trust

Partner of the Year

• Generation
• The King’s Trust
• The Launch Group
• PeoplePlus
• Springboard
• YouthBuild Ventures

Outstanding Contribution to Young People Award

• Amani Simpson – AVIARD Inspires / The Amani Project
• Bristol Temple Street Movement to Work Team – DWP
• Darren Holland – DWP
• Donatas Jurevicius – Marriott
• Donna England – DWP
• Gary Bell – DWP
• Gillian Dalziel – Diageo
• Hannah Simpson – DWP
• Ingar McVicar – Springboard
• Joshua Crew – DWP
• Kayleigh Rotvik – DWP
• Keith Halliwell – DWP
• Leigh Maxfield – Thames Water
• Lynn Makings – DWP
• Mo Saif – Youthbuild Ventures
• Moonawara Moostafin Milaqul Hasanath – DWP
• Naomi Pitt – DWP
• Rachael Cunningham – Thames Water
• Rob Dell – DWP
• Sami Khan – DWP
• Sam Meakings – DWP
• Sam Meakings & Rob Dell – DWP
• Santarna Williams – Catch 22
• Shelly Larsen-McHugh – Manpower
• Sherri Holland – DWP
• Susan Dunn – DWP
• Waqas Nadeem – DWP

Young Trailblazer Award

• Ali Karimian Mazidi – DWP
• Anisa Dahir – Shaw Trust
• Brandon Tattersall – BAE Systems / King’s Trust
• Elizabeth Hughes – DWP
• Holly Franklin – King’s Trust
• Imogen Colebourne – M&S
• Imogen Gorn – DWP
• Jacob Mohammed-Irvine – DWP
• Jak Mccrae – DWP
• Katie Stansbie – M&S
• Lee Kiley – Shaw Trust
• Megan Chapman – Thames Water
• Tianna Coulson – Northampton Saints Foundation
• Umay Nadeem – M&S
• William Partridge – DWP

Rising Star Award

• Aaron Sidhu – Marriott
• Adam Aziz – DWP
• Adam Lawther – Thames Water
• Cameron Dedman – DWP
• Chetwind Peters – M&S
• Curtis Ewah – Caretrade
• Daisy Smith – M&S
• Davina Brown – DWP
• Frankie Fraser – M&S
• Harry Royall – DWP
• Isaac Bryson – DWP
• Jack Wood – Accenture
• Jamie Mcphillips – DWP
• Javan Daniel Kakala – Caretrade
• Jessica Adams – DWP
• Katie Billings – DWP
• Luke Sparrow – DWP
• Magnus Hayze – DWP
• Manar Daich – DWP
• Missy Butler – DWP
• Naaira Chowdhary – DWP
• Niall Lilliot – Springboard
• Nikita Morris – BAE Systems
• Nikita Weir-Douglas – M&S
• Oliver (Ollie) Simms – DWP
• Oliver Smith – DWP
• Ronnie Andrews – M&S
• Veronica Sullivan – Spirax Group
• Wiktoria Stroncik – DWP

Breakthrough Star Award

• Aaron Sidhu – Marriott
• Aminat Bello – YouthBuild Ventures
• Angelika Specht – DWP
• Bethany Simpson – DWP
• Caitlin Wild – DWP
• Chetwind Peters – M&S
• Cristabell Kyeremeh – DWP
• Ehimen Omoregie – M&S
• Emma Mcneill – DWP
• Florence Murray – DWP
• Gabriela Scott Chavez – Accenture
• Hannah Egan – DWP
• Heather Bethune – DWP
• Jada Retnam-Mate – DWP
• Jake Hall – DWP
• Jake Loney-Pursaill – Manpower
• Joshua Hargreaves – King’s Trust / M&S
• Kane Spence – Northampton Saints Foundation
• Leah James – Accenture
• Leon Buffham – Springboard
• Macey Heaps – Thames Water
• Marian Belu – DWP
• Mark McGrath – M&S
• Maryam Rahman – Accenture
• Megan Mukeza – Aviard Inspires
• Mike Tyson – BAE Systems / King’s Trust
• Molly Gaffney – DWP
• Monchi Lau – Springboard
• Morgan Eaton-Brown – DWP
• Richard Rice – DWP
• Vicky Onilogbo – BAE Systems / King’s Trust

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a nomination—it was a privilege to read your stories.
For any issues with tickets or questions, please reach out to the team at events@movementtowork.com.
Looking forward to seeing many of you very soon!

 

YMCA, the largest voluntary sector provider of supported housing for young people in England and Wales, has issued an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, urging the Government to address critical barriers preventing young people in supported housing from accessing employment.

The letter, which has been endorsed by a group of charities and businesses, draws attention to findings from YMCA’s 2023 report, Breaking Barriers to Work. The research reveals that systemic challenges, particularly within the benefits system, are trapping young people in supported housing in a cycle of unemployment.

Key challenges highlighted in the report include:

• The financial penalty of working: Residents of supported housing often lose essential housing benefits after working just 11-12 hours per week, leaving them unable to afford rent.
• Lower Universal Credit allowances for young people: Those under 25 receive less Universal Credit than their older peers even if they are living without family support, further hindering their ability to achieve financial independence.
• Practical barriers: High transport costs and work-appropriate clothing make it harder for disadvantaged young people to transition into work.

YMCA-commissioned economic analysis highlights the significant benefits of reform. By providing a Universal Credit work allowance to protect supported housing residents from financial penalties and equalising allowances for young people under 25, the government could welcome up to £11 in tax receipts and welfare savings for every £1 spent.

Denise Hatton, Chief Executive of YMCA England & Wales, said:

“Young people in supported housing face extraordinary barriers to work due to a benefits system that punishes, rather than rewards, ambition. This isn’t just a loss for them—it’s a loss for society and the economy. It’s time for bold action to unlock their potential, ensuring they can move forward with dignity and opportunity.”

Sareena Bains, Chief Executive of Movement to Work, added:

“Young people bring energy, innovation, and fresh perspectives to the workplace. Those in supported housing deserve fair opportunities and a system where work truly makes a difference to their lives. By breaking down barriers, we can create meaningful change for young people and pave the way for a stronger, more prosperous future for our economy.”

YMCA and its partners are committed to working with the Government to ensure every young person, regardless of background, has the opportunity to succeed in their career and contribute to the community. The letter concludes with a call for collaborative action to end youth unemployment and create a fairer system.

Read the open letter: ymca.org.uk/ymca-open-letter

Full List of Signees:

• Denise Hatton, CEO, YMCA England & Wales
• Sareena Bains, CEO, Movement to Work
• Edward Siegel, CEO, Charity Bank
• James Musgrave, Finance Director UK&I and Board Sponsor for Social Purpose, Hays Plc
• Ashby Jenkins, CEO, Ashby Jenkins Recruitment
• Helen Taylor, Associate Director, C2 Recruitment
• Polly Neate, CEO, Shelter
• Rick Henderson, CEO, Homeless Link
• Emma Haddad, CEO, St Mungo’s
• Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Community Wellbeing Board, Local Government Association
• Francesca Albanese, Executive Director of Policy & Social Change, Crisis
• Balbir Chatrik, Director of Policy and Prevention, Centrepoint
• Phil Kerry, CEO, New Horizon Youth Centre
• Carol Gallagher, CEO, Doorway
• Jonny Whitehead, CEO, Herts Young Homeless
• Mark Wood, CEO, Colchester Korban Project
• Mike Jarman, CEO, The Zone Plymouth
• Dom Wood, CEO, 1625 Independent People
• David Smith, CEO, Stepping Stone Projects
• Leon Ward, CEO, MyBnk
• JJ Tatten, CEO, The Warren Youth Project
• David Chaffey, CEO, BHT Sussex
• Esther Barrett, Director of Quality, Performance & Safeguarding, P3 Charity

About YMCA England & Wales

• YMCA England & Wales comprises 84 member YMCAs working to ensure young people have opportunities to thrive and contribute positively to their communities.
• YMCAs operate in 708 different communities across England and Wales, impacting the lives of more than 400,000 people every year.
• YMCA is the largest voluntary sector provider of supported housing for young people in England and Wales, providing a bed for 10,432 people each night and collectively helping more than 20,000 people experiencing homelessness each year.
• YMCA works with 228,000 children, young people, parents, and carers to provide the best possible start in life, offering support into their teenage years and beyond.
• YMCA England & Wales enables more than 23,000 people every year to engage in education and training to improve their opportunities in the job market.
• We welcome 107,000 people through our doors to partake in healthy living activities, helping people of all abilities and experiences to look after their health and wellbeing.

For further information, please visit: www.ymca.org.uk

Movement to Work Is delighted to announce that NatWest Group, the largest business and commercial bank in the UK, has joined its network of employers committed to tackling youth employment. 

As a new member, the NatWest Group will work with charity Movement to Work to further develop its youth employment strategy. This partnership will build on the learnings gain from its previous youth focussed programmes alongside the wide range of Apprenticeships they offer.

In 2024 NatWest Group enrolled 30 16–24-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training onto an immersive programme run in partnership with local youth organisations. The programme equipped young people with vital skills development, mentoring and paid work experience. Many of these young people are facing barriers to employment, caught in a cycle of limited experience and often with low expectations of themselves and from those around them. Through the programme the young people were able to build their confidence over several weeks and allows them the space to understand their own skills and strengths better, as well as what they might want to do next.

And their Elevate Apprenticeship programme offers young people aged 16-24 from low socio- economic communities the opportunity to start their career in banking whilst gaining an apprenticeship qualification.  Since 2020 NatWest Group have offered more than 700 young people permanent roles through this wonderful apprenticeship programme.

NatWest Group joins over a hundred employers, youth outreach partners and training providers who make up the Movement to Work community, all committed to breaking down barriers to employment and creating quality opportunities for young people who need it most.

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“We’re proud to become a member of Movement to Work and look forward to supporting more young people in our communities who may be facing barriers to work build confidence, explore new opportunities and gain valuable work experience and employment opportunities.”

Sandra Beattie, Head of Early Talent, NatWest Group 

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“We are thrilled to welcome NatWest Group to the Movement to Work membership and we commend their leadership. We are here to help to ensure their programmes deliver real impact for their organisation, for society, and, most importantly, for the young people themselves. I look forward to working together now and well into the future.”

Sareena Bains, CEO, Movement to Work added.

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About Movement to Work:

Movement to Work (MtW) helps employers deliver high-quality employability opportunities for young people aged 16-30 facing barriers to work. As a registered UK charity, MtW offers fully-funded professional support to businesses interested in tackling youth unemployment.

For over a decade, Movement to Work has helped deliver over 200,000 youth opportunities, including work experience, apprenticeships, sector-based work academy programmes, internships, traineeships, and entry-level roles. These efforts have resulted in positive outcomes for more than 89% of participants, who have gone on to secure further employment, education, or training.

Movement to Work’s Steering Group includes executive leaders from major UK businesses such as Accenture, BAE Systems, Barclays, Centrica, Diageo, Marriott, M&S, Tesco, Salesforce, and Spirax-Sarco, as well as leaders from the TUC, The CBI, The King’s Trust, and the DWP. MtW’s mission is to help young people gain access to valuable work experiences as a pathway to sustainable employment, and in turn, expose organisations to diverse, untapped talent.

For more information visit movementtowork.com

About NatWest Group:

NatWest Group is a UK-focused banking organisation, serving over 19 million customers, with business operations stretching across retail, commercial and private banking markets. In addition to providing employability education and opportunities for young people facing barriers to employment, NatWest Group hire over 600 Apprentices, Interns and Graduates annually offering high quality learning experiences that support people to launch their careers. 

Contact:

For media inquiries, please contact: info@movementtowork.com

Today marks Scottish Results Day and the annual Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) #NoWrongPath campaign. The campaign aims to inspire and reassure young people receiving their results, showing that there is no wrong path. 

To support the campaign, Movement to Work’s Gemma Davies, Head of Talent and Regional Development, has volunteered her story. 

Gemma joined the Movement to Work team in March 2024 on secondment from Tesco and has worked for Tesco for nearly 19 years. During this time, she has held various roles within stores and, for the past six years, has served as an HR People Partner within the Distribution function.

This is her path.

“I was never particularly academic and finished school not really having any idea of what I wanted to do as a career.

I just about got the grades I needed to go to sixth form to do my A levels but had to re-sit English whilst doing them. I got a part-time job in a Tesco petrol station close to home whilst studying. This was always meant to be a stop gap until I figured out what I wanted to do.

I decided to go to university as I was still unsure what to do as a career, and it felt like the right thing to do. I dropped out of university after a few months as I just was really not enjoying it. My store manager at work had seen something in me that I hadn’t and recommended that I start the options (development) program in Tesco. I thought I would do this while I was figuring out my future.

I learnt quickly and was soon promoted and became full time. An opportunity came up for Tesco to pay for me to study for a foundation degree in retail a year or so later and I was accepted and completed this two-year course alongside my full-time work. Studying felt different this time as I already had a lot of the practical knowledge, I started to enjoy learning the theories and rationale of what I was doing and why I was doing it that way and gave me the courage to challenge things that I thought we could change and improve.

Towards the end of this course, I was also lucky enough to be part of a fast-track academy to become a store manager, the learning and experience I had gained over the last couple of years really supported me to be successful here and I loved my job.

I later decided I fancied a change from retail and was curious to learn new skills and formats, so I went into Distribution as a People Partner (HR). I had no HR qualifications but again was really keen to learn and develop on the job. 5 years later Tesco put me through my HR qualification, and I completed my CIPD experience assessment. This allowed me to gain my qualification on the back of my experiences rather than learning and then going and putting it all into practice.

I would never have been given some of these opportunities had I not already been a Tesco employee as I had no experience or qualifications to do the roles until they invested time, effort and energy and training into me. I feel so lucky for working in an organisation that have given me so much, I was very driven and worked really hard but there were so many people along the way that have helped me, and I am truly grateful for that.

Supporting other people to develop has been one of my biggest passions since I began in a management role. It’s an incredible feeling to see someone grow in confidence and thrive. Choosing the right organisation is key and there are so many great employers out there that offer internal training to really help to support those of us that maybe didn’t get the qualifications we wanted or decided the academic route wasn’t for us. Don’t close yourself off, understand what careers are available within an organisation and how they can support you. Sometimes once you have your foot in the door the opportunities are endless!”

Connect with Gemma on LinkedIn

Over the bank holiday weekend, I took time to reflect on what was an eventful previous week. We had the announcement of the general election, now just 5 weeks away on 4^th July, a wave of election pledges, and the release of some very stark labour market statistics.

As the CEO of Movement to Work, a charity that has spent over a decade tackling youth unemployment, it became clear that we find ourselves in the midst of a polycrisis and I have a responsibility to shout loud for the young people of our nation at this time.

The landscape

The portion of young people furthest from the workplace is growing. The number of NEET (not in education, employment, or training) young people aged 16 to 24 rose to 900,000 from 812,000 a year ago (January to March 2024). The number of economically inactive (not in or looking for work) young people has increased by 297,000 to 3 million, near the highest level since 1992.

The number of opportunities is dropping. Overall, UK vacancies decreased by 26,000 from the previous quarter to 898,000 (February to April 2024), the 22^nd consecutive quarterly decline.

Young people are experiencing the most significant challenges. Reflecting on 15 years of data, The Prince’s Trust Youth Index has shown that young people’s happiness and confidence in their mental health is at an all-time low, and one in five (21%) young people in the UK have missed school or work in the past year due to their mental health. We focus on building accessible programmes that not only improve employability but also consider wellbeing and wraparound support, so that young people have the best chance of success.

Overall, the UK Claimant Count for April 2024 rose by 8,900 from the previous month and by 29,300 from the previous year, reaching 1.58 million. Imagine what we could do if we were able to help people off benefits and into contributing to an economy where they can truly thrive.

The future of a country is measured by its young people, and it is clear they need us more than ever. I am calling on the existing and forthcoming government to work with me and my organisation to save a generation.

How we can help

• Founded by business leaders, Movement to Work has the ability to convene, facilitate and catalyse action through and with employers. Work with us to shape policies that will unlock the potential of business to engage with young people in ways that matter most.
• We can help put young people at the centre of skills shortages, new industries and NetZero ambitions. We know how to design and deliver programmes that will help train young people with the existing and future skills they need to succeed, helping to embolden the UK workforce with fresh talent and ideas.
• Alongside businesses, we collaborate with government departments and youth and training professionals to ensure our strategies make sense. We have a ten-year track record of forging quality partnerships that have helped to deliver over 180,000 youth opportunities with over 89% leading to positive outcomes.
• We offer 100% free support to businesses; all we ask in return is that you join our mission and offer quality opportunities for young people aged 16-30.

What businesses have told us about investing in youth employment strategies: 

• Diverse ideas, people and skills
• Stronger talent pipeline
• Fresh energy and enthusiasm
• Meaningfully delivering on Corporate Social Responsibility

So, reach out to us today and find out more about what we do. Movement to Work is offering its unrelenting support to any government and any business that is ready to invest in young people and build a fairer society.

As one young programme graduate said, “When you help me, you help those who come after me”. Together, we can unleash so much untapped potential and safeguard our collective futures.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to working with you.

Sareena Bains

CEO, Movement to Work

Connect with Sareena on LinkedIn