Supporting young people into employment: lessons from a Cumbrian employment programme

Blog posts

4 Dec 2025

Billy Campbell, Research Fellow

Data published in November 2025 shows that youth unemployment reached 15.3% and is now on par with peak youth unemployment rates seen during the pandemic. Cumbria, England’s third largest county, experiences unique challenges within its labour market, including high levels of seasonal work, its rural geography, and poor transport links (which I experienced first-hand on a visit to Barrow-in-Furness when the one route to Lancaster was blocked by a derailed train for a month, doubling my total journey time between the towns!).

With an awareness of these challenges, the Youth Futures Foundation funded Cumbria Youth Alliance (CYA), a county-wide youth support organisation, to deliver their Forging Futures programme. IES was commissioned by Youth Futures to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme and identify the key drivers that support outcomes.

The Forging Futures support model

Delivered across six areas of Cumbria, Forging Futures aimed to support 16–24-year-olds who were not in employment, education or training (NEET) into sustained employment, with an offer of up to 12-months of tailored support. This was predominantly through one-to-one, weekly appointments, which were usually in-person, with a dedicated link worker that offered a safe and collaborative space for people to identify and address their support needs.

There were also optional activities such as group confidence sessions, support to access volunteering and work experience, and referrals to training, health and housing support. Reflecting the tailored nature of the support, taking part in these activities was dependent on a person’s needs and their goals, and decided through open conversations between themselves and their link worker.

Link worker continuity and time

Interviews with young people widely attributed their increased confidence, communication skills, ambition, motivation, independent living skills, and employability skills to their regular link worker appointments. But what lay beneath these appointments to support such wide-ranging outcomes? Trust.

Over the duration of people’s support, link workers were able to understand the individual personalities of the people within their caseloads; including their preferred communication styles, where they preferred to meet, and their individual experiences, needs and goals. Using this knowledge, they were able to tailor how they communicated, how and when appointments took place, and understand when and when not to introduce particular support activities. But, at the same time, they were able to gently encourage people to take up support outside of their comfort zones, introducing them to new experiences and skills.

The key to developing this trusting relationship was link worker continuity and the time they had available. In all but one area of delivery, link workers remained in place for the duration of the programme and supported their dedicated caseload of around 20 to 30 people. This manageable caseload size allowed link workers adequate time to meet people for regular appointments, often lasting up to one hour, where they could check-in on wellbeing, before supporting the completion of job applications, discuss opening bank accounts, make referrals into wider support services, or respond to other support needs individuals may present.

In the one area where there were changes in link worker, both staff and young people felt that changes had negative impacts on the breadth and depth of what could be discussed in appointments, and that trust and rapport needed to be re-established before the support continued. On a time bound programme such as this, it can limit the effectiveness of the support, demonstrating the importance of continuity.

Employment outcomes

Over the course of the programme, nearly half (47%) of people who took part moved into employment. This was mostly into part-time work and was often attributed to the wide ranging personal and social outcomes achieved through the trusted link worker relationship. Our analysis found that of those who moved into employment, one-third (33%) had not worked for seven months or more before joining the programme, an achievement not to be understated when considering that being NEET for 3 months is a key marker for becoming long-term NEET.

Further, analysis found that around one-third (48%) of those who moved into employment sustained this outcome for three-months.

Reflections

This evaluation adds to the evidence base demonstrating the importance of support staff continuity, having sufficient time for appointments, and tailoring the support offer to individual needs within employment support for marginalised young people .

Additionally, as found in other research by IES, the knowledge and personal qualities of those delivering support is crucial in recruiting support staff. I had the opportunity to meet several of Forging Futures’ link workers and hear first-hand their understanding of the local area and the challenges within the local labour market. But beyond that, I believe the social value of their role is a key driver for them to support people to work towards achieving their full potential. They are committed to, and passionate about, supporting people to have the best start to their working lives.

IES’ full evaluation report can be found here.

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Any views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute as a whole.