Career Connect Sefton's early intervention work with young people from Year 9 has made a big impact on outcomes at the age of 16. Career Connect has delivered the Sefton NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) Reduction and Early Intervention Service on behalf of Sefton Council since 2019.
The Challenge:
Career Connect has delivered the service, commissioned by Sefton Council via their Employment and Learning team, since 2019. The Council moved from a solely post-16 model of careers support for NEET young people, to proactive earlier intervention.
The aim is to target young people from Year 9 onwards who are identified as being ‘at risk of NEET’ due to a range of factors, with the aim of keeping them on a pathway to employment, education or training at age 16.
How we made an impact:
Our report on the first four years of the service, published in February 2024, found significantly improved outcomes for young people across Sefton making the transition from Year 11, despite the disruptions caused by Covid and the cost-of-living crisis.
Of those pre-16 young people identified as being ‘At Risk of NEET, the report found:
- Reductions of up to 16.8% of at-risk young people that are NEET upon leaving school.
- A reduction of between 53-78 days in the average number of days those young people spent NEET in the first 6 months of leaving school.
- The early intervention model has also led to a substantial positive impact on the number of young people whose status is ‘Not Known’. In March 2024, only 0.2% of young people aged 16-17 in Sefton had a ‘Not Known’ status. This compares with an average of 1.2% across the Northwest and 1.7% across England. Sefton ranked 3rd place for its tracking of 16-17-year-olds’ EET destinations out of 153 Local Authorities in England.
Factors leading to impact:
- Early identification of young people in need of support
- A focus on building a trusting relationship between the young person and adviser, helping the young person stay on a path to post-16 provision.
- Needs-led bespoke provision, designed around the young person – plus specialists within the team to deliver intensive support, with expertise in Special Educational Needs, Youth Justice, Care Experience and Social Care.
- A whole family approach: recognising that parents / carers have more influence than anyone else on a young person’s career journey.
- Working collaboratively in a multiagency way to make every intervention count. A ‘no wrong door’ approach. Co-location wherever possible.
- Highly-localised – helping the young person understand exactly what is available locally and how to access it. Helping the young person feel that from there, they can go anywhere.
- Using the Lundy Model to continually shape the service to meet young people’s needs.
Young people’s voices:
“I had never thought about it ‘til I worked with Career Connect as I was just thinking of school and scared of what happens in the future. I wasn’t sure, but I trusted my worker and could be honest and ask questions.”
“My mum tried to help me, but she wasn’t well, I didn’t have friends – I don’t know what I would have done without Career Connect. School tried but I don’t think they liked me as I was a pain for them not attending and sometimes with my behaviour. I needed someone to listen to me.”
“We spoke about different options, college, smaller training providers, we looked online, it was about trying different things. The main thing for me was to make friends and attend as well as my Maths and English – I didn’t do well in school.”
