Inside the innovative employment pilot bringing jobs to overlooked young people's doorsteps

Mir’s story is a familiar one in a youth unemployment crisis that has seen more than one million young people out of work, education or training: scores of jobs applied for with no reply.

The 19-year-old from Merseyside spent a year looking for work but now he has a job and is looking to get his own home thanks to an innovative employment pilot targeting social housing residents.

New prime minister Andy Burnham is looking to address the NEETs crisis and has announced school pupils will be given greater access to technical skills, work experience and connections with local employers from 14 years of age.

But he may look towards JobsPlus to reach young people who go on to fall through the cracks.

The hyper-local scheme targets social housing residents who are out of work but do not typically access mainstream support, meeting them where they are at to overcome barriers to employment.

Launched in 2024, the £5 million pilot, led by independent policy and research organisation Learning and Work Institute (L&W) and funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Youth Futures Foundation, has helped more than 1,200 people into work. People living in social housing are nearly twice as likely to be out of work than people living in other types of housing.

An Institute of Employment Studies (IES) evaluation found a third of JobsPlus participants were aged 16-24 – despite young people making up just 12% of social housing residents – suggesting the scheme can play its part in addressing the youth unemployment crisis.

For Mir, it was an opportunity that literally landed on his doorstep.

“I got involved because Jamie (Green, Mir’s JobsPlus careers advisor) knocked on my door and said to me: “Are you looking for a job?” I said yes and he said: “Can I come in tomorrow to sign up?” said Mir.

“It was taking me a long time [to get a job]. I was applying every two weeks for over 30 jobs. It was normal for me. It didn’t surprise me at all because it wasn’t the first time they’d said no to me.”

The support Mir received helped him get a job at supermarket where he is now looking towards a more uplifting future.

He was given support to practice interview techniques and even advice on how to dress while support has continued whenever he needs it despite him now being in work.

“I don’t think I would have been able to get that job without JobsPlus. Not at all,” Mir told Big Issue. The teenager received support at the JobsPlus centre at Birkenhead on the Wirral, led by Magenta Living

“This should be way bigger. It’s a lot easier to get a job with JobsPlus because they will help you and they have skills to do that – it’s way easier with JobsPlus.

“It’s given me way more opportunities – I can get my driving licence now, I can get my own property soon. The manager was saying to me had the chance to become a section leader after two or three years and the chance to become a manager after six years.”

JobsPlus is delivered in partnership with social landlords and offers support to everyone in the local area, rather than only to people already receiving benefits.

This means the new model can engage people who are typically overlooked by mainstream support, including young people who might otherwise be ‘off the grid’”’.

The IES evaluation identified improvements in wellbeing and job readiness, including for people with physical and mental health conditions.

The pilot has been running across 10 sites in England, including in London, Liverpool, Sheffield, Rotherham, Swale in Kent and Stockton in the Tees Valley.

Read more:

• Here’s what Andy Burnham can do right away to address homelessness and NEETs crisis
• The UK can’t achieve growth and lower poverty with a million young people locked out of opportunity
• Youth unemployment has a ‘long-term scarring effect’ affecting finances and health decades later

Abigail, a 21-year-old JobsPlus advisor apprentice at Barnet Homes in East Finchley, originally came to the pilot because she wanted to shift careers after working in childcare and hospitality.

Now she works with other young people like herself to help them into work, delivering workshops and training as well as more bespoke support.

“They said to me: I think you’d actually be suitable for this role because you can talk. You care about people and you just want to help people,” she told Big Issue.

“I just feel so supported with them and I love doing this job. Because I’m working with young people, it’s easier for me as there are a lot of barriers.

“For example, one of my clients, they’ve got really bad mental health issues. Sometimes it’s a thing you’re scared to say something about, but because you’ve built that relationship with them, it’s easier to ask those questions.

“I feel like if I was working in a JobCentre, I can’t really ask questions like so personal or know what to do or say in any situation. But with JobsPlus, I feel like it’s just so holistic and just so wonderful and welcoming.”

JobsPlus is backed by strong international evidence from the United States.

Elizabeth Gerard, L&W’s deputy director, said the US findings showed boosting earnings and work opportunities in social housing had a positive long-term effect.

That’s not just for the people helped into work but also their children who may see higher earnings up to 20 years after support was delivered.

“It achieves this intergenerational change,” said Gerard.

She added: “Targeting JobsPlus towards communities in social housing means that you can really be sure that you’re targeting the extra support to where it’s most needed.

“And what’s come up is the importance of that support being in that heart of the community and that hyper-local aspect.”

Have a community hub at the 10 sites helped overcome complaints about using transport to access support as well as making things more welcoming.

“You feel like you’re being welcomed in as opposed to a JobCentre where you’re greeted by a security guard and it’s very clinical.”

The Work and Pensions Select Committee officially recommended that the UK government trial the US-style JobsPlus programme in 2023.

The model is currently funded until the end of March 2027 with the backing of the DWP. Gerard told Big Issue she would like to a more long-term commitment, arguing that removing JobsPlus risks “eroding the trust” built up in communities.

Former employment minister Dame Diana Johnson, who has been moved to a new brief under the Burnham regime, described the pilot scheme as “innovative” and said it complemented the government’s Youth Guarantee.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – and always take the magazine. It’s how vendors earn with dignity and move forward.

You can also support online:
Subscribe to the magazine or support our work with a monthly gift. Your support helps vendors earn, learn and thrive while strengthening our frontline services.

Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.