Category: News

2024 CEO Summit & Awards : Event Report

On Monday 15th April 2024, Movement to Work hosted its annual CEO Summit in London with more than 100 attendees from 41 organisations. We convened young people alongside leaders from business, government and youth organisations to discuss youth employment and inspire positive action in the year ahead.
The summit was followed by our annual Youth Employability Awards. Here, we welcomed a further 200+ guests to highlight individuals and organisations across the network who have been particularly extraordinary in their efforts to tackle youth unemployment, including amazing young people who are overcoming barriers to work.   
Today we are sharing an overview of our 2024 flagship events, including key learnings and next steps. 
Read event report HERE
 
Download event images HERE
 

 

We welcome your ongoing feedback about the event and how we might continue to work together now and in the future. Please do get in touch if you have any questions about the report and our mission info@movemementtowork.com
 
Thank you to all that were involved to help make for such a special day together, and to everyone who posted on social media in support of our work. It was fantastic to see all your pictures and read your reflections. 
 
We look forward to working with you in the weeks and months ahead!
 
Movement to Work Team

MTW CEO: Let’s forge a brighter future for our young people

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 4th 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 22nd 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 

Lunch and Learn: Who are Young Adult Carers and how to support them in the workplace?

When: 12th June 12-12.45pm (online)

Movement to Work is delighted to announce that it is co-hosting an online ‘lunch and learn’ event Wednesday 12th June 12-12.45pm during this year’s Carers Week. Please see below for more details.

To spotlight Carers Week this June, join us to hear from our charity partner Carers Trust on who this hidden group of young people are, and how employers can support them in the workplace.

This session will help you to:

  • Gain information on who unpaid young adult carers are.
  • What barriers they face into employment
  • Why they are a fantastic untapped talent for the workplace.
  • Understanding some ways you can support this group in your workplace.

 The 45-minute event will be delivered online via Zoom, and we will be joined by young adult carers, bringing their lived experience to the session.

To sign up to the event, please reach out to Lauren O’Neill lauren.oneill@movementtowork.com. Spaces are limited so do register early to secure your spot!

About Carers Trust:

Carers Trust works to transform the lives of unpaid carers. It partners with its network of local carer organisations to provide funding and support, deliver innovative and evidence-based programmes and raise awareness and influence policy.​ Carers Trust’s vision is that unpaid carers are heard and valued, with access to support, advice and resources to enable them to live fulfilled lives.

About Carers Week:

Carers Week, taking place from 10–16 June 2024, is a UK-wide awareness campaign seeking to increase visibility for carers with decision makers, services, employers, communities, and businesses.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Nominees for 2024 MtW Youth Employability Awards

We are absolutely delighted to announce the following nominees for the upcoming MtW Youth Employability Awards on Monday 15th April!

Huge congratulations to all these incredible nominees, you should all be so proud of yourselves!

2024 MtW Youth Employability Awards – Nominees
Best Newcomer – Employer
  • N Brown Group (JD Williams & Company Ltd)
  • RAF Museum
  • Strive Developments
Best Newcomer – Partner
  • Think Forward UK 
  • YMCA England & Wales
  • YouthBuild Ventures UK
Employer of the Year 
  • BAE Systems
  • Civil Service
  • Department for Transport
  • Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
  • HMRC Debt Management
  • Marriott Hotels
  • NHS
  • Tesco
Mentor of the Year
  • Andrew Smith –  Catch 22
  • Catherine Legg –  DWP
  • Claire Robinson –  DWP
  • Ellie Fitzpatrick –  DWP
  • Elsie Vivian –  MBDA UK
  • Isabel Howden –  Springboard
  • Kirsty Brookes –  DWP
  • Maxine Simpson –  Marriott
  • Naomi Pitt –  DWP
  • Paul Young –  Ministry of Justice
  • Rebecca Slade  –  Springboard
  • Robert Dell –  DWP
  • Sam Meakings –  DWP
  • Sharon Thorpe –  Springboard
Partner of the Year 
  • Ambitious About Autism
  • Bridge of Hope
  • CareerMap
  • Carers Trust
  • Catch 22
  • DFN Project Search
  • Generation UK
  • PeoplePlus
  • The Prince’s Trust
Individual Impact Award
  • Amanda Riley –  Ministry of Justice
  • Angela Buchan –  DWP
  • Angela Burns –  DWP
  • Julie Stone –  DWP
  • Kirsty Brookes –  DWP
  • Marianne Lester –  DWP
  • Marriott HR Team –  Marriott
  • Rachael Cunningham –  Thames Water
  • Sam Meakings –  DWP
Innovator of the Year Award
  • Apprentice Nation
  • Bridge of Hope Careers
  • Bristol Temple Street Movement to Work Team (DWP)
  • Careerscope
  • Carers Trust
  • DFN Project Search
  • Georgina Huntley (Manpower Group)
  • His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
  • Mary Scales on behalf of DWP           
  • Salesforce with Catch 22
  • ThinkForward UK
  • William Holt (DWP)
  • Youth Employment UK
Rising Star Award
  • Calum Hayes –  M&S
  • Chloe Bunce –  DWP
  • Chloe Martin –  Princes Trust for M&S
  • Daniel Zinczenko –  Princes Trust for M&S
  • Dean Lake –  BAE Systems
  • Emma Charles-Wilson –  Accenture
  • Gabrielle Howell –  BAE Systems
  • Gary Graham –  Springboard UK & Diageo
  • Jessica Wiseman –  Accenture
  • Lauren Gibson –  M&S
  • Liam Kelleher –  People Plus & Tesco
  • Mary Pyne –  NHS
  • Naveen Ganesaperumal –  M&S
  • Olivia Horner –  Springboard UK
  • Paige Mitchie –  Tesco
  • Rahima Zakaria Bismillar –  Manpower Group
  • Shane Lee –  M&S
  • Sophie Cooke –  M&S
Breakthrough Star Award
  • Alistair Kemley –  Springboard UK
  • Bradley Hadlington –  DWP
  • Brandon Tattersall –  BAE Systems
  • Burhan Wardak –  M&S
  • Cassie Grant, Jacob Mohammed-Irvine & Katie Billings –  DWP
  • Connor Wise –  M&S
  • Damian Trunchion –  Tesco
  • David Carter –  DWP
  • Elizabeth Samrau – The Prince’s Trust
  • Emily Saker –  M&S
  • Grace Harrison-Volz –  M&S
  • Guled Sudi – The Prince’s Trust
  • Lara Evans –  Princes Trust & M&S
  • Lewis Abel –  M&S
  • Micah Fisher –  Springboard UK
  • Nial McDevitt –  M&S
  • Oran Murphy –  M&S
  • Ryan Welch –  MBDA UK
  • Sophie Pace-Balzan –  Diageo
  • Sophie Rosa Leigh –  M&S
  • Thomas Wan –  BAE Systems
  • Tobi Azeez –  Princes Trust
  • Toni Hollywood –  BAE Systems & The Prince’s Trust

Big thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a nomination, it was a privilege to read your stories.

If you haven’t got a ticket yet, please reach out to the team at events@movementtowork.com and someone will try to help.

Looking forward to seeing you at the event very soon!

 

 

Sareena Bains 

CEO, Movement to Work 

My time at the Movement: Divyendu Shekhar

I joined the Movement to Work in July this year as a Project Delivery, Events, and Communications Manager. I wasn’t entirely sure what I had signed up for; all I knew was that it would be challenging yet rewarding, and very different from my daily work at Marks & Spencer. I chose to dive into it like an excited kid entering the swimming pool for the first time, and with time, learnt to swim (I think!).

Over the last 5 months, I have been involved in developing the Youth Voice Digital Tool – a tool that surveys the unemployed youth in the UK about their biggest challenges to gaining employment and then presents it to employers for them to use while building their employment programmes.

I must admit that I was not aware of how much of a game-changer this tool would be with employers when I joined. Today, after the umpteen positive reviews and employers’ delight in seeing the tool, I realise the difference it could make in solving the issue of youth unemployability in the UK. I feel grateful that I got the opportunity to work on such a project and it is something I’ll declare proudly forever.

Along the way, I exposed myself to situations that forced me to push myself out of my comfort zone and develop my skills continuously. The thought of leading a workshop with employees from companies like Tesco, Diageo, IBM, etc. would have terrified me a few months ago. Cut to now, I have done that multiple times. During my third week at MtW, I was leading a call with a team of developers from Accenture, another feat I could possibly not have imagined even when I joined the team on my first day. 

While I consciously joined this role with the aim of pushing myself out of my comfort zone and developing certain skills, the team around me made it so much easier. Right from the first week when I got the warmest welcome, it was clear to me that help was always around the corner. What also caught my eye was the plethora of experiences everyone came with. Where else would you get to work with a team that has employees from Accenture, BAE Systems, Diageo, etc. all in one room? It would also be remiss of me to not mention James (MtW COO) at this point, who has helped, empowered, and pushed me to achieve all my goals, while simultaneously making me feel like I’m in a safe space.

My time at MtW has not only been extremely rewarding from a work perspective, but it has also helped me make friends along the way, and for that, I’ll be forever grateful.

You can connect with Div on LinkedIn

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.

Remembering Sir Ivan Menezes

We are incredibly saddened to hear of the passing of Diageo Chief Executive and Trustee of Movement to Work, Sir Ivan Menezes.

With his deep passion for equality and inclusivity, Sir Ivan was a great supporter of Movement to Work and our mission, including being a Trustee and the Chair from 2017 to 2020.  Despite all the other callings on his time, his commitment never wavered and he made a huge contribution to the Movement’s scale and impact. We are very grateful to Sir Ivan for his support and counsel over the years.

On behalf of all at Movement to Work, we send our deepest condolences to Sir Ivan’s family, friends and colleagues.

Celebrating ten years of Movement to Work: CEO Gillian Churchill shares her thoughts

A couple of weeks on from our annual CEO Summit and Youth Employability Awards, I’ve been reflecting on how amazing these events were and how important they are to the Movement and to our network.

Some of my top highlights include the open sharing of experiences – we heard from young people about their employment journeys and the barriers they have faced and overcome with the help of supportive employers, while also hearing from businesses about how they are innovating and adapting to support young people into work. 

We focused on some of the most pertinent issues which young people have told us they care most about – inclusive recruitment practices, how employers engage them as prospective employees and how businesses can best support their changing needs. We looked at some of the potential solutions and actions employers can take. 

We also shared a sneak peek of our forthcoming anniversary campaign content featuring some heroes from across the Movement – more on this soon!

The conversation and general buzz in the room throughout the day (not to mention the celebratory atmosphere during the awards!) really stood out for me. People wanted to listen, to share and to learn – with a healthy dose of fun too!

Hearing the amazing stories of our nominees and winners was also a standout moment – this was our opportunity to celebrate young people who are doing great things in their workplace, as well as some wonderful champions of young people. Huge congratulations again to our award winners and all our nominees! 

The events were made even more special as we used the occasion to kick off the charity’s tenth anniversary celebrations. As a Movement, we have helped deliver more than 155,000 opportunities for young people, working with hundreds of individuals and organisations to deliver remarkable experiences. Thank you to every business and partner who has joined us on the journey and helped us to reach this significant milestone. 

Between 2013 and 2020 we reached a major milestone of 100,000 opportunities delivered, and today we are already close to 200,000.  The pace of change is increasing, and this gives me so much hope and pride.

Because, simply, this means we’re helping even more young people to build their confidence, to develop key skills and provide them with quality work experience that will help to equip them for their future.

This really is vital, as there are many more young people out there who need our support; our work is as crucial as ever. 

A final thank you to our sponsors – without your support we couldn’t hold such high quality events – and to all those who attended, contributed and celebrated with us.  

  To read a summary of our panels and discussions, please see here. 

Take a look at some of the event highlights in the videos below – please share on your channels!

We’ve also got hundreds of fabulous pictures from the event – please reach out to the team to claim your photobooth moment!

 As always, let me know your thoughts and if you’re not a member of the Movement but would like to join, please get in touch.

 info@movementtowork.com

Connect with Gillian on LinkedIn

MtW Chair and Trustee Charles Woodburn appears on Ian King Live

London, UK

On Monday (17th April 2023), in the lead-up to Movement to Work (MtW)’s annual CEO Summit, the charity’s Chair and Trustee, Charles Woodburn, made an appearance on the Ian King show on Sky News.

During his appearance, Dr Woodburn discussed the work being done by the charity to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in gaining meaningful employment. He highlighted the importance of providing training, work experience, and mentoring to help young people overcome barriers to employment and achieve their full potential.

He also discussed the challenges faced by the charity sector, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasised the need for more businesses to sign up and provide new opportunities for young people.

You can watch the full interview here

Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future Podcast: Will social mobility deliver growth?

Featuring Movement to Work’s Ambassador Anastacia Jamfrey & BAE Systems

Former Downing Street adviser, Jimmy McLoughlin interviews top entrepreneurs about where they are creating jobs of the future. In this live on stage episode, recorded at the CBI Future of Work conference, Jimmy was joined by Ian Muldowney, COO of BAE Systems’ Air business, and Anastacia Jamfrey, a MtW ambassador and BAE Systems apprentice success story, now a Capability Portfolio Bid Manager / Senior Project Professional. 

Jimmy, Ian, and Anastacia delve into what social mobility means to them, why young people are struggling to access work, and how BAE Systems works to combat these through their programmes, emphasising  Movement to Work as a crucial facilitator in the design and delivery of these.

Highlights of the episode include Anastacia’s inspiring story; how she has risen through the company, acquiring professional qualifications, promotions, and leadership roles. It’s clear that the work of BAE Systems, in partnership with MtW, has helped many young people succeed, but crucially has resulted in a huge return on investment for the company. 

There’s also some exciting insight into the future of military aircraft, Tempest, and the use of drones!

To listen to the episode click here