Marvin OnumonuYouth Futures Foundation, in partnership with Youth Endowment Fund, has launched a large-scale trial of summer employment programmes for young people in England and Wales.
The evaluation is set to involve 3,000 young people at risk of violence, aiming to provide clear evidence on the impact, cost and effectiveness of these programmes.
This summer, a pilot randomised controlled trial began, with 18 delivery partners running a six-week programme across Greater Manchester, London, the North East, South Wales, the West Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber.
The programme will be delivered to 600 young people at risk of violence, with another 600 getting standard provision as a comparison group.
The pilot includes a week of preparation, five weeks of paid work experience, and support from a youth worker.
The pilot will check if random allocation and outcome measurement work in practice.
If successful, the trial will expand to a further 1,800 young people, giving decisionmakers stronger evidence on whether summer jobs schemes can help keep young people employed and out of violence.
Chris Goulden, director of impact and evidence at Youth Futures Foundation, said: “Central to our mission as a What Works Centre is generating high-quality evidence of if and how interventions work to improve youth employment outcomes.
“This pilot is an exciting step in building the sector’s understanding of designing and delivering successful summer employment programmes in the UK.”
