Resurgo’s Senior Partnerships Manager, Becky Hartle, shared:
“Having been a Spear Coach on Resurgo’s Spear Programme, I know there’s a temptation to think you work with these young people because they’re the forgotten ones, who are maybe the one or two exceptions in your class at school.
But 1 in 7, nearly a million… that’s not an exception. That’s a lot of young people who are not living life how it’s meant to be lived: not able to go out, buy a meal, pay their rent, go on holiday, or build a career. That’s a lot of opportunity not being seized.”
This wasted potential isn’t just a problem for young people but a critical one for society. A whole generation struggling to find and thrive in work will cause lasting damage to society’s economic growth goals.
In the face of a sharp rise in youth mental ill-health, the impact of Covid lockdowns and educational disruption, and a cooling jobs market due to increases in employer national insurance costs, last year Resurgo gladly welcomed Labour’s Youth Guarantee.
As the government work to take the Guarantee from plan to reality, with eight ‘youth trailblazer’ regions planned for the spring, now is the time to hold them accountable to the promises they made, to ensure “all young people have the support [they need] to achieve a job, training or education.”
Achieving this will need a concerted and coordinated support system from more than just government, that reaches every young person – especially those 595,0o0 classified as ‘economically inactive’, who are not looking for work, and therefore not engaging with Job Centre.
As Becky shares:
“The Spear Programme’s role is first of all to find these young people. Where are they? What are they engaging with? Because if we can find them, I believe that Spear really makes a difference. By giving young people an opportunity to grow in skills, build their confidence and resilience, and shift their mindset, we can bridge that gap between hopelessness and hope.
I think Spear can be at the heart of tackling these figures. They’ve increased by 110,000 since this time last year… our job is to not allow that figure to go up next year.”
Resurgo is absolutely committed to playing our part in tackling the problem of youth unemployment. We have ambitious plans for growth, and want to see our impressive impact replicated nationally, so that every young person can seize the opportunities they deserve, and take their rightful place in society.