I have spent more than 25 years working at the intersection of education, employment and opportunity, and rarely have I seen the stakes as high as they are today.
As I prepare to take up the role of chief executive of City Year UK this August, one number remains at the forefront of my mind. For the first time since 2013, more than a million young people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training. According to the Office for National Statistics, that’s almost one in eight of the entire generation who are outside the world of work and education.
We are used to describing this as a social disaster, and it is. But I want to say to British business leaders that it is also, frankly, business. A review commissioned by the government has estimated that youth unemployment is now costing the country around £125 billion a year in lost productivity, weaker tax receipts and higher demand for public services. That’s more than England spends on education. No employer, and certainly no small or medium-sized business trying to hire, is deterred by a figure of that scale.
Shrinking talent pool, poorly equipped with skills
For SMEs the impacts are immediate and effective. When nine out of ten businesses report that candidates arrive without the skills they need, hiring becomes slow, expensive and risky. At the same time, expectations for firms to demonstrate real social impact have never been higher. The temptation is to treat these as two separate problems, one for the financial director and one for the sustainability report. In fact they are the same problem, and they can share the same solution.
The important point, and one that I really want employers to grasp, is that the barriers that hold young people back rarely arise in employment. By the time a young person enters the labor market, the barriers that limit their employability, low attendance, low self-esteem, weak basic skills, are often already entrenched. If we wait until a graduate milk round or an internship application to intervene, we are intervening years too late.
That peer mentoring is really changing
City Year UK is there to intervene beforehand. We place qualified 18- to 25-year-olds as full-time, peer mentors in schools serving disadvantaged communities, where they support students at risk of falling behind academically or socially. In 15 years, our 1,800 counselors have worked one-on-one and in small groups with more than 17,000 children, and contributed to an inspiring school culture for more than 136,000 students.
The results are important to teachers and employers alike. Mid-year assessments show that 80 percent of the students we support say their counselor helps them feel happy and comfortable at school. Modeling suggests that continued improvements in maths and English could add £5.48 billion to lifetime earnings for one cohort, and produce a 29 per cent return on investment if support continues for up to year 11.
There is a second dividend that businesses often overlook. Our mentors are seniors too, and they graduate with accredited leadership qualifications, strong employability skills and professional networks. More than nine out of ten of them are in education, employment or training within three months of completing the City Year. In simple business terms, this is a long-horizon talent pipeline with measurable downstream impact on both ends.
From funding to strategy
I am encouraged that corporate engagement is already moving from ad hoc contributions to an integrated workforce strategy. Leading employers are beginning to see three drivers of value clearly: shaping the skills and aspirations of future entrants, reducing the risk of long-term economic unemployment in their communities, and delivering tangible, measurable social outcomes rather than vague goodwill.
The most effective partnerships take precedence over sponsorship. When businesses fully participate in our work, through visits to industrial sites, employee counseling, workshops on CV recruitment and interviews, or simple information on apprenticeships and entryways, they help young people to translate desire into opportunity. For many, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, it is the first time they can clearly see the path to work. This is a time when government initiatives, such as the recent £725 million package to increase apprenticeships, require employers to stand alongside them rather than waiting downstream.
The smart thing, just not the right thing
The companies that lead in the next decade will be those that treat public investment not as charity but as the core infrastructure for future growth. In an economy where skills, inclusion and productivity are tightly linked together, supporting young people in education, employment and training is no longer just the right thing to do. It’s increasingly the smart thing to do.
As I enter this role, my questioning of British entrepreneurs is straightforward. Look at that £125 billion figure, look at your recruitment challenges, and realize that the two are connected. Then help us reach out to the schools that need us the most. The talent you will be competing against in five years is sitting in the classroom today. The question is whether anyone is investing in it now.
