The Youth Endowment Fund has awarded £5.6 million to expand and evaluate The Skill Mill, a social enterprise that provides young people who’ve offended with paid work.

Young people aged 16 to 18 will be referred to the programme through Youth Justice Services. Participants will take part in six months of paid work on local environmental projects, such as planting trees, clearing waterways and maintaining urban green spaces. Alongside this, they will receive training, mentoring and support to gain qualifications. After the placement, participants receive three months of tailored guidance to help them move into education, training or employment. Delivery will involve up to 22 local authority areas, supporting up to 352 young people.

To understand the effects on reoffending and young people’s self-confidence and social and emotional behaviour YEF has commissioned ICF to carry out an independent evaluation of The Skill Mill using a randomised controlled trial — one of the most rigorous ways of testing whether a programme works. The research will strengthen the evidence on whether employment programmes can reduce reoffending and help prevent violence.

The programme’s expansion comes at a crucial moment. Nearly one in three children who offend go on to reoffend, while youth unemployment is at its highest level in more than a decade. For young people with a criminal record, stigma and limited work experience can make rebuilding their lives and securing employment even harder, increasing the need for targeted support into work.

Mark*, past participant at The Skill Mill, said: “I feel like I’ve really grown out of getting into trouble. I’ve stopped getting involved with all that bother. I’ll come home and I’m tired, and I’ll just go on my Xbox and go to bed early enough to get up in the morning. It’s got me into a work routine and made me much more motivated and productive, it’s really built my confidence and I feel much more confident about my next move.”

* Name has been changed.

Additional funding will come from the participating local authorities and commercial partners through a pay-for-success model and an outcomes contract. Flexible working capital to enable programme delivery is provided to The Skill Mill by social investors coordinated by Bridges Outcomes Partnerships. Local authority payments are made for agreed outcomes, only once they have been achieved. Bridges also provides programme development, coordination support and impact management expertise. 

David Parks OBE, Managing Director of The Skill Mill, said: “This partnership is about giving young people a genuine second chance, through paid work, trusted relationships and providing them with the skills to build themselves a brighter future. By combining real jobs on environmental projects with personalised support, we’re helping young people move away from reoffending while delivering visible benefits for local communities. We’re excited to be working alongside the local authorities, Bridges Outcomes Partnerships, commercial partners and the Youth Endowment Fund at this scale.”

Jake Grout-Smith, Assistant Director of Impact, Programmes and Partnerships at Youth Endowment Fund, said:“Almost a third of young people in England and Wales who offend go on to do so again. Finding effective ways to prevent this means fewer victims, less strain on the justice system and better futures for young people vulnerable to involvement in crime. The Skill Mill programme has shown promise in reducing reoffending. Its expansion and evaluation give us an important opportunity to test its impact at scale and strengthen the evidence on employment programmes.”

The Skill Mill is not the only employment programme the YEF is testing. Youth Endowment Fund, in partnership with Youth Futures Foundation, is also funding and evaluating  UK Youth’s Summer Employment programme. It offers six-week paid placements for 16 to 20-year-olds at risk of violence. The programme aims to improve the young person’s well-being and mental health while supporting them with employability skills and self-confidence. Now entering its third and final year, it aims to reach a further 900 young people this summer, with the recruitment of employers and referrals currently underway.

To find out more, visit: https://www.ukyouth.org/what-we-do/our-programmes/summer-jobs-programme/