Andrew Potter, Project Manager of the JobsPlus pilot in East Finchley, outlines a different approach to supporting young people into employment and training.
Policy solutions for supporting young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET) often use language like ‘upskilling’, ‘job readiness’ and ‘pathways’. However, in our community hub here in East Finchley, those words feel far removed from the reality of a young person’s life. As part of the BOOST JobsPlus pilot, we’ve been testing a different approach: one that prioritises being on the ground and rooted in the community.
To understand why some young people are struggling to enter the workforce, we must acknowledge that for many, the primary barrier isn’t a lack of ambition but instead a lack of capacity. Many young people we engage with are dealing with silent, intersecting and restrictive challenges, from social anxiety to undiagnosed neurodivergence—all intensified by the precarity of life in a low-income household. When you feel stuck, the prospect of a formal interview, a CV, or even a phone call to a recruiter can feel insurmountable. Young residents who are ‘distant’ from the job market are also dealing with feelings of distance from the world moving on without them.
In our experience, the most transformative tool isn’t a fancy training programme, but the consistent, resourceful and reliable relationships built with employment advisors. Young people need to know they won’t be sanctioned if they miss an appointment. They also need to know that the same mentor will be there for them next week. We don’t always lead with talking about jobs. Instead, we might start by helping someone get into a new routine, such as getting up at a set time. We offer people a friendly, safe environment with a coffee, tea and a biscuit. Our drop-in sessions are low stakes, giving young people time to build the resilience they’ll need for today’s jobs market.
I wish more systems understood that readiness is a non-linear process, not a fixed state. We need to stop punishing people for needing time.
The biggest enemy of progress is a system built on urgency rather than readiness. When services are designed around rigid, short-term targets, the pressure to hit ‘outcomes’ often leads to a ‘churn and burn’ approach. We see young people being passed from one agency to another, forced to retell their life histories to five different strangers. Each time this happens they disengage a little more. Systems that demand a job within a few weeks are often setting these young people up for failure: if someone is pushed into a role they aren’t emotionally or physically ready for, they simply won’t stay. Setbacks like these only reinforce young people’s insecurities and make it even harder to move forward.
Take Mark*, an 18-year-old in our community who had left school two years previously. Every time Mark started a job application, he would get overwhelmed. When Mark came through our doors, we didn’t talk about jobs for the first few weeks. We focused instead on his interests and how he managed his anxiety. This built trust and meant we could broach conversations about addiction, healthy coping strategies, and what his hopes were for the future. Only then did we move on to small tasks such as arranging appointments and scheduling lessons to prepare for his maths and English exam re-sits. It took a few months before Mark opened up about the real reason he wasn’t in work. Our team had the knowledge, experience and compassion to help him. Now in a good job and with exams paid for, Mark’s in a good place with plenty to look forward to.
Choosing a youth apprentice to be a peer support was impactful and inspiring to our young people as they were able to see a neighbour doing good work.
So, what does ‘good’ support look like? Here at BOOST JobsPlus, good is centred on people, not targets. It means we stop viewing disengagement as a failure of the young person and instead as a sign the support hasn’t yet aligned with their needs. I wish more systems understood that readiness is a non-linear process, not a fixed state. We need to stop punishing people for needing time. If we want to change how support is delivered, we must move toward a model of wraparound care that is flexible, trauma-informed, and above all, patient. That’s because supporting a young person into work is an investment: it takes time to build confidence, routine, and sense of self-worth, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Something else I feel is relevant and special to the BOOST JobsPlus project is employing from within the community. Choosing a youth apprentice to be a peer support was impactful and inspiring to our young people as they were able to see a neighbour doing good work. Our youth apprentice had tried various apprenticeships and jobs and almost felt like giving up—but then they found us. With our help, they are proof patience and time work. Six months into the apprenticeship, they are vital to our team’s success.
