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This report explores the challenges facing young people in the contemporary UK labour market. It has a particular focus on young unemployed people and the policies and initiatives to help them find work. A further concern relates not only to the quantity of jobs available to young people, but also the quality. This is important because poor-quality jobs can often act as 'poverty traps' pushing young people into cycles of employment and unemployment rather than acting as 'stepping stones' into decent work.

The report starts by looking at the UK in broader context then outlines changing UK government policy in this area with a particular focus on recent changes. Three separate chapters look at the main actors: trade unions, employers and young people themselves. Finally, the report considers two particular areas of policy initiative that might be used to boost the quantity and quality of jobs available to young people: (1) the inclusion of 'social clauses' in procurement contracts, for example requiring contractors to provide good-quality Apprenticeships as part of public sector procurement processes; and (2) promoting entrepreneurship among young people, that is helping young people to set up in self-employment as a way of avoiding unemployment, and whether there is scope to roll out this kind of policy more widely.

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This report explores the links being made within trade unions between union learning, membership recruitment and workplace organisation. It identifies whether and how unions are evaluating union learning activity in terms of recruitment and organising. It finds that unions are developing systems to collect information on the wider impact of union learning. Union learning officers believe that union learning has a positive impact on workplace recruitment and the generation of new activists. There is evidence that unions are working to promote practical links between learning and organising agendas in terms of both full-time and lay officer structures, and through training. Despite this, learning officers claim that the rate of progress on integrating union learning into core union business remains a concern.

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This research report examines the context, content and outcomes of union learning agreements in Britain. The number of learning agreements has increased significantly over the last 10 years and they are important facilitators of union-led learning. Yet very little is known about where such agreements are located, what provisions they contain and what impact they may have at the workplace. The report explores these key concerns through a content analysis of 281 learning agreements and a survey of 415 employers. The report details the workplace context wherein learning agreements are located. It examines the content of agreements in terms of: the principles of agreements and the roles of parties; learning infrastructure and governance; learning needs and time off for learning; equality of access; monitoring and industrial relations guarantees; and [union learning representative] ULR facilities. The report considers the impact of learning agreements on employer engagement, learning policies and practices and wider organisational outcomes, and a case study of best practice is presented. Finally, recommendations are made on how learning agreements may be developed and the types of provisions they should contain.

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This report explores, in the words of the learners themselves, the extent to which union learning facilitates equality and diversity in access to learning and precipitates further personal development, job progression and/or employability for learners. It finds that union learning provides a second chance for workers who have had negative experiences of compulsory education, addressing what they feel is an educational deficit and who may subsequently become 'serial learners'. The report concludes that significant barriers continue to exist, such as cost and a lack of confidence amongst learners, but also employer reluctance and work intensification leading to demands on time and energy. However, in its application of adult education pedagogy, union learning attracts learners, with the role of union learning representatives (ULRs) key to overcoming barriers. At the workplace, learning can promote social and collective interaction and be a source of well-being. What is more, the learners speaking here value learning highly, whether it is for work or personal development, be it formal or informal, lifelong or drawn from wider life experience - 'lifewide'. Whilst learning is central to their own self-esteem, at the same time they often express a broader commitment to the wider social purpose of education.

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The value of mentoring in supporting a high quality apprenticeship programme is increasingly being recognised for its value in supporting the transition of young people into the workplace and in passing on skills and experience. Despite the increasing recognition of the value of mentoring there is a lack of clarity over what is meant by mentoring and how it differs from the support typically offered by the apprentice's line manager, training provider and/or assessor. Indeed mentoring has frequently been compared to other processes including managing, supervising and coaching. In the specific context of apprenticeships, mentoring (as opposed to other support processes) is more heavily focused on supporting individual career development as well as providing trusted support. It can, however, also encompass many of the components of managing, supervising and coaching, for example, by passing on technical expertise and skills. Union reps are ideally placed to mentor and support apprentices.

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This paper traces the history of union involvement in training from the neo-corporatism of the 1960/70s, through the voluntarism of the 1980s/90s, to the present ‘post-voluntary’ era, as described by Gordon Brown when Chancellor of the Exchequer. It concludes that, although that there has been significant capacity building in unions under New Labour, the lack of significant collective bargaining over training limits delivering the broad union learning agenda at the workplace. Unions have been encouraged to contribute to the ‘supply-side’ agenda and help their members into learning up to level 2 qualifications to help meet the government targets. However, management prerogative has remained over higher levels of skills formation and their utilisation. If unions are to advance a ‘demand-side’ agenda then this will require more collective bargaining over training and a greater role for unions in policy development, within a new statutory framework.

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This report explores the potential effect of trade unions on training provision in the British workplace. It does this through an analysis of the Labour Force Survey, covering the period 2001-2013, and in terms of post-recession practice the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. The results show that union members received more training than non-members for the period 2001–2013 and in the period post-recession this potential benefit of union membership may have increased. This occurred within a context where general levels of training provision across the workforce have remained fairly constant.

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This paper presents an initial empirical assessment of the significance of learning agreements. It draws upon six case studies of organisations where learning agreements have been concluded in order to explore the nature and scope of such agreements; how they connect with the broader industrial relations environment; and whether they have influenced the development of organisational learning cultures and performance outcomes. [The authors'] findings suggest that the adoption of a partnership-based approach to learning is more important for the advancement of the learning agenda at the workplace than the conclusion of a formal learning agreement. Such agreements are nevertheless able to contribute to the sustainability of learning partnerships when they result in the establishment of effective workplace learning committees, and embed trade union involvement in the development of the learning agenda. Equally significantly, [the authors'] findings indicate that the best outcomes in terms of the trajectory of employee participation in learning and the development of workplace learning cultures are associated with learning partnerships in which there is a relatively even balance of power between employers and unions.

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This paper outlines the present arrangements for co-investing in workforce development and the radical changes planned by the coalition government resulting from the public expenditure cuts. It argues that such co-investment needs to be substantially increased if society's requirements for transferable skills and broader personal development are to be met. This requires establishing a framework of mutual trust and co-operation whereby employers are willing to invest more in the personal development of their workforce provided that the employee and the state also make a contribution and vice versa. One method of doing this is through the introduction of Collective Learning Funds (CLFs). They are union-led initiatives to stimulate co-investment in the personal development of the workforce to make such learning affordable and accessible by levering in cash and in kind contributions from employers, providers, unions and individuals. The paper outlines unionlearn's CLF project, supported by [Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills] DIUS then [Department for Business, Innovation and Skills] BIS, which tested a variety of CLF models in 23 workplaces in the North West and the East Midlands. It summarises the evaluation findings and sets out both the outputs and the outcomes of the pilots. The paper also outlines their uses and wider benefits evidenced by the evaluation as well as considering the themes and issues which have arisen. It also includes two case studies that demonstrate how different CLF models have operated in different types of workplaces. The paper concludes that the CLF concept has considerable value but needs to relate to future policy initiatives if it is to be mainstreamed.

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Commissioned by the [Trades Union Congress] TUC, this paper presents original research by the Scottish Centre for Employment Research on union-led workplace learning. The research examines the relationship between learning and trade union organising at workplace level. It assesses how trade union organising contributes to worker learning and how that learning affects trade union organising. Based on qualitative research of three TUC-selected case studies, the research finds that for employees there can be provided additional learning and training previously absent from their employment.

Three types of learning - for personal development, job-related, and to enhance employability - were presented, and there is evidence that union-led workplace learning can enable a 'jobs escalator'. Learners can also progress up a 'learning escalator', starting with learning that is not directly job-related to learning that is. In participating in learning, unions are able to offer an additional service to existing and prospective members, attitudes to unions are positively changed and recruitment is enhanced. Worker participation in learning can act as a graduating experience, providing a 'roles escalator' that encourages members to become union learning representatives (ULRs) who, in turn, graduate to other union representative positions. The establishment of the ULR role can therefore be supportive of, rather than at the expense of, more traditional union representation. Finally, there is evidence that learning can contribute to improved industrial relations. These benefits were not comprehensive across the case studies and there are issues that warrant further investigation.

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