TO BE PUBLISHED September 2026
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This conference will consider next steps for youth employment and priorities for improving pathways to work.
Discussion will focus on recent developments and emerging thinking across careers support, employment services and skills policy, including consideration of wider labour market conditions and factors influencing opportunities for young people.
It will bring stakeholders and policymakers together to discuss implementation of the Government’s Youth Guarantee, including what in practice would be required to deliver guarantees of paid work for eligible young people and how eligibility and referral routes should operate at local level. Attendees will consider priorities for a new Jobs and Careers Service in supporting the day-to-day experience of young people and employers, implications of reform to Jobcentre Plus, and how Skills England can best interact with local labour market priorities and provider capacity.
Potential impact of the Growth and Skills Levy
Delegates will assess how the shift from the Apprenticeship Levy to the Growth and Skills Levy is likely to affect employer behaviour, including the use of shorter and more flexible training, and what this may mean for quality, completion and progression - particularly for SMEs and sectors with high entry-level demand.
Further discussion will look at proposals in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper to strengthen routes into work, including the role of work experience, career hubs and brokerage arrangements, and how responsibilities should be shared between employers, providers and local partners.
Employer responsibility and standards
The agenda will also consider what the concept of good work should look like in practice for young people entering and staying in employment - including questions around predictable hours, job security, progression and fair treatment - and how these expectations might be reflected in commissioning, employer standards and enforcement.
Service development and equity
Longer-term discussion is expected on sustainable funding for youth services and local support, and how accountability should operate across the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education, and local partners. This also includes how success measures for 2027 benchmarks could be defined and assessed for groups such as care leavers and those with SEND, including those facing health-related barriers.
Proposals in Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy will also be considered, including the role of youth panels and other mechanisms for bringing young people’s priorities into policy development and delivery, and how these arrangements might support more consistent opportunity across regions with differing NEET rates.
Overview of areas for discussion
- Get Britain Working and Youth Guarantee: scope and sequencing of proposed reforms - co-ordination across central, regional and local bodies - alignment with existing funding and service frameworks
- Jobs and Careers Service: remit and delivery models - balance between digital and in-person support - interaction with Skills England and wider employment service reform
- levy reform: impact of the Growth and Skills Levy - considerations for SME participation - implications for apprenticeship availability and progression routes
- employer and provider engagement: compliance and administrative burdens - implications of shorter apprenticeships - integration of placements with the work-experience entitlement
- skills pathways: next steps following the skills white paper - alignment of provision with workforce skills gaps - interaction between LSIPs and Get Britain Working proposals
- young people at work: expectations around hours, pay progression and workplace treatment - regional variation in access to jobs - employer views on retention and productivity
- health and employment: co-ordination between support services - provision for young people with long-term conditions - addressing increasing numbers of people leaving work due to mental health
- funding and governance: sustainability of youth-focused services - Youth Guarantee scope, including age and geographic range - accountability across national departments and local partners
- measuring outcomes: approaches to 2027 benchmarks - progress for care leavers, young people with SEND and 16-17 year-old NEETs - impact of disadvantage and ill health on participation
- youth voice and equity: role of panels and advisory boards - effectiveness of locally led brokerage - National Youth Strategy and addressing regional NEET disparities and longer-term job quality
