Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many places were (a) available and (b) taken up for the Youth Offer in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022, (iii) 2023 and (iv) 2024 as of 21 May.

The Youth Offer launched on the 20 September 2020 and provides support for 16–24-year-olds who are on Universal Credit to help them move into employment. It includes three elements:

• The Youth Employment Programme, which provides young people dedicated intensive Work Coach support in finding & applying for jobs, with additional assistance available for those who have recently begun their Universal Credit claim.
• Youth Hubs, which bring together in one location DWP services with local support provided by youth experts. This ensures that the needs of young people are matched to services that help them tackle barriers to employment.
• Youth Employability Coaches, who are focused on supporting young people furthest from the labour market overcome complex challenges so that they can move into work.

The Youth Offer is a demand led programme and is available to eligible young claimants on Universal Credit.

The most recent data available is up to end of April for Starts on the Youth Offer.

Notes:

1. Eligible claimants who have recently begun their Universal Credit claim, and are actively searching for work, start in the Youth Employment Programme element of the Youth Offer. A Work Coach may later refer them to a Youth Hub, Youth Employability Coach or other employment support as appropriate based on their needs.
2. When a claimant starts on any of the three elements of the Youth Offer, this is recorded as a start on that element, as well as a start on the Youth Offer.
3. A claimant may take part in multiple elements of the Youth Offer. They may start any element of the Youth Offer multiple times. Each of these starts is recorded as a start on the Youth Offer.
4. Claimants do not take part in multiple elements of the Youth Offer simultaneously.
5. Data for Youth Hubs and Youth Employability Coaches is not available prior to April-21.
6. Youth Hub and Youth Employability Coach data is produced from a manual process and although care is taken when processing and analysing Youth Hub and Youth Employability Coach referrals, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system which features manual data. Therefore, Youth Hub and Youth Employability Coach figures are likely to underestimate the number of young people who have started at a Youth Hub and/or with a Youth Employability Coach.

7. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. Therefore, the individual elements in the table may not sum to the total figure.
8. Figures are subject to retrospective revision.