What will reverse the the loss of Level 1 and 2 provision for young people trying to access work, asks Joe Crossley, chief executive of Qube Learning, in this open letter to the prime minister
Dear Prime Minister,
During the Covid19 pandemic, the Conservative government made a public commitment to an ‘Opportunity Guarantee’ proclaiming that all young people would get the help needed to get into work. Promises were made for employment support, accessible education, upskilling, training, and available job opportunities – all of which focus on the lower rungs of the career ladder.
But as the end of 2022 fast approaches, the challenge for unemployed young people is far from remedied – and as far as I can see it, rather than promoting access to work, the lower rungs of the career ladder are now being removed.
Myself and my colleagues at Qube Learning – one of the UK’s leading further education providers and recruiters – would like to know how the steady erasure of Level 1 and 2 provision for young people trying to access work and get their first step onto the career ladder will be reversed?
For many individuals capable of work, there are now significantly fewer opportunities for entry level courses, and where these are still granted, many candidates are being excluded from taking part thanks to unnecessarily high functional skills grade requirements. Why, for example, is a 16–24-year-old interested in a career in childcare required to score the same as an accountancy candidate on a maths test to begin training?
I’m sure you are aware that long-term youth unemployment rose by almost 50% during the pandemic and is now at the highest level in five years. The UK has entered a period of workforce crisis and your government needs to focus less on attainment statistics and more on progress targets if you want to keep the country running.
In the coming months it will be imperative for educators and employers to do more to help jobseekers enter the workforce. To break it down further for your ministers: to enter the workforce, people need entry level opportunities.
As someone who left school at 16-years-old and followed a non-traditional career path, one step at a time, to being CEO of Qube Learning, I know the value in meeting a candidate where they are. If we work with people collaboratively towards a personalised goal which brings them up a level or two from where they started – this is when we really achieve ‘levelling up’.
Qube Learning recommends:
- all young people leaving education have an accessible and realistic offer of a further education place, traineeship, apprenticeship, or job;
- funding is made available for outreach programmes that tackle the social reasons behind long-term unemployment;
- revision of course requirements for Level 1-3 courses and/or alternative to the functional skills test;
- a student premium for those aged 16-19 to mirror the pupil premium given to primary and secondary students as recommended by Social Mobility Commission.
We are still waiting for the government to deliver on the promises it made on access and opportunities to work alongside funding for training. Fulfilling the promises already pledged will help ease the pressure on the national workforce, essential services, and public spending for generations to come. Our suggested actions only further support the levelling up agenda.
Joe Crossley, chief executive, Qube Learning
