Evaluation of CYA’s Forging Futures programme

Forging Futures is a Cumbria-wide employment programme, which aims to help young people move into employment. The programme is delivered by six CYA link workers who are supported by the Youth Ambition Lead, a data coordinator, an employment engagement officer, and a training coordinator. The programme offers up to 12-months of support. The core activities of the programme are: weekly one-to-one link worker appointments; initial assessments; and completion of CYA’s My Evaluation Tool (ME Tool), which assesses personal support needs and levels of engagement when a young person joins the programme.

Forging Futures is aimed at young people aged 16 - 24-years-old, living in Cumbria, looking for work and claiming Universal Credit. Young people are referred to the programme by Jobcentre Work Coaches.

The main aims of the evaluation were to understand and evidence the theory underlying Forging Future’s programme’s support model and the mechanisms of change (i.e. the main drivers of outcomes). In addition, IES was required to provide recommendations for a feasible impact evaluation design, such as a randomised control trial or a quasiexperimental design study.

The two-year evaluation of the 2023 to 2024 Forging Futures programme included:

• A review of CYA delivery documents and data, scoping interviews, and a theory of change workshop.
• Observations of co-located link workers in Jobcentre Plus offices and Youth Hubs in Cumbria.
• Initial and follow-up interviews with young people participating in Forging Futures and staff.
• Partner interviews.
• Analysis and reporting of qualitative interview data and quantitative programme data.

The video below summarises the Forging Futures programme and evaluation findings. The evaluation report is available to download at the bottom of the page.