Summer jobs – Delivery partner

Introduction

The Youth Endowment Fund, in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media, & Sport (DCMS), and the Youth Futures Foundation (YFF) are launching a new Targeted Projects Funding Round: Summer Jobs. The funding round will have two core aims:   

1. Design, develop and deliver a promising new Summer Jobs Programme in the UK, that provides high-quality work opportunities that are attractive to vulnerable young people and has the direct aim of reducing youth violence.    

2. Generate robust evidence on the impact of a new Summer Jobs Programme on reducing youth violence, and improving education, employment and wellbeing outcomes.    

We are looking to appoint a delivery partner who will lead on the design, set up and delivery of the new Summer Jobs Programme.  

About Summer Jobs  

Programmes that provide young people with short-term paid employment are common in large cities across the United States, but are less common here in the UK. These programmes are often referred to as Summer Youth Employment Programmes (SYEPs) as they are delivered over the summer, when young people are not in education and rates of crime tend to be highest. 

SYEPs target disadvantaged young people and usually involve some form of pastoral support like a mentor and job readiness training, alongside paid work. The schemes have a variety of aims, including building skills, improving education outcomes, boosting job prospects, and reducing the likelihood of involvement in crime.   

When delivered well, summer jobs programmes have shown a positive – albeit small – impact on reducing offending, alongside potentially promising results on social and emotional skills and job readiness. 

The Youth Endowment Fund, together with DCMS and YFF believe there is significant value in better understanding the impact of a summer jobs programme in an English and Welsh context across a range of important outcomes.  

What we’re aiming to invest in   

This funding round will fund the design, set up, delivery, and evaluation of a new Summer Jobs Programme in the UK, which will provide short-term paid work placements for young people between the ages of 16-24 at risk of becoming involved in violence. The programme will launch in June 2024, being delivered over the summer when young people are not in education and rates of crime tend to be highest. Over a three-year period, we expect to reach around 2,600 young people.  

Delivery partner appointment   

We are looking to appoint a delivery partner who will be fully responsible for the design, set up and delivery of the new Summer Jobs Programme. At a minimum, a delivery partner will need to meet the following criteria: 

• Be able to deliver to c. 600 young people in the first year of delivery. 
• Have experience of working with key local delivery agencies (pupil referral unites, youth offending teams, local authorities etc). 
• Have experience in engaging employers and employer networks at a national scale. 
• Be willing and able to work with an independent evaluator who will assess the feasibility and impact of the scheme. 
• Have experience working with and recruiting young people (either directly or through partnership work) at risk of being involved in violence.   

Duration of project delivery and funding  

The funding round will open on 3 November 2023, with delivery beginning in June 2024.  

We plan to take a phased approach to project set-up, delivery and evaluation – with the first year of delivery focusing on testing the feasibility of implementing such a scheme in the UK. If findings from the feasibility phase are positive, we will plan to proceed with a pilot delivery and evaluation, and later to an efficacy trial.    

Should decisions be made to proceed with all phases of delivery and evaluation (feasibility through to efficacy trial), delivery of the Summer Jobs Programme will conclude in the summer of 2027 with the evaluation ending December 2028.    

Application guidance 

Please ensure you read our application guidance carefully before starting your application.    

Workshops  

Timeline

Apply 

Applications open on Friday 3^rd November 2023 and close at 5pm on Friday 1^st December 2023. Please download and read the application guidance for instructions on how to apply.  

Please use the provided proposal form to apply.

Frequently Asked Questions