These three reports evaluate and analyse the effectiveness of the Youth Contract for 16- to 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) to encourage participation in education or training. The Youth Contract program is being delivered across England and aims to engage those young people who are hardest to reach and support them into education, training or a job with training. Two models were established. One was national, commissioned through a prime provider-subcontractor approach and featured payment-by-results (PbR) with a focus on sustained 'hard' outcomes. It was subject
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These three reports evaluate and analyse the effectiveness of the Youth Contract for 16- to 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) to encourage participation in education or training. The Youth Contract program is being delivered across England and aims to engage those young people who are hardest to reach and support them into education, training or a job with training. Two models were established. One was national, commissioned through a prime provider-subcontractor approach and featured payment-by-results (PbR) with a focus on sustained 'hard' outcomes. It was subject to strict eligibility such that only low-qualified young people, care leavers and young offenders who were NEET could access it. The other model devolved funding to three core city areas where six local authorities (LAs) determined the shape and nature of delivery. The scope and nature of delivery and the eligibility criteria were locally determined.
This evaluation covered the experiences of early entrants to this other Youth Contract component. The reports cover the Youth Contract operation between October 2012 and March 2014. The evaluation showed that some common approaches had emerged as part of delivery and demonstrated the importance of individualised support through a keyworkers in assisting young people to re-engage. By the end of the evaluation period, a 1.8 percentage point impact was demonstrated on the overall rates of young people NEET in England [it must be noted that not all young people NEET in England were eligible for support]. In addition, 33 per cent of the young people who were re-engaged in learning, studied sufficient hours to comply with the Raising of the Participation Age legislation. The national Youth Contract model will continue to recruit young people until 31 March 2015.
Edited excerpts from publication.
The three reports are as follows: The Youth Contract for 16-17 year olds not in education, employment or training evaluation: research report [DFE-RR318A] / Becci Newton, Stefan Speckesser, Vahe Nafilyan, Sue Maguire, David Devins and Tim Bickerstaffe; The Youth Contract provision for 16- and 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training evaluation: econometric estimates of programme impacts and net social benefits: research report [DFE-RR318B] / Vahe Nafilyan and Stefan Speckesser; Youth Contract for 16-17 year olds: an evaluation: technical report: tables from the surveys of local authorities: research report [DFE- RR318C] / Rosa Marvell and Becci Newton.
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