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.