Every young person in West Yorkshire to be guaranteed work experience opportunities, as Mayor acts to prevent a “lost generation”

• After a major national review warned that one and a quarter million young people could be shut out of work or education by 2031, Mayor Tracy Brabin will today set out plans to halve the number of West Yorkshire’s teenagers being written off before they’ve even begun.
  
  
• Unveiling her “West Yorkshire Promise” to young people, the Mayor will make a series of cast-iron commitments to every 14-24 year old in the region, including an experience of the world of work by the age of 18.
  
  
• To deliver further and faster, the Mayor is calling for deeper devolution throughout England, arguing that to stop young people from falling through the cracks, the services designed to support them must be joined up at the local level.

Every young person in West Yorkshire will be guaranteed a taste of work by the age of 18, under a new strategy set to be unveiled by West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin today (24 June).
 
Launching her flagship Region of Learning and Creativity Strategy at Bradford College, Mayor Brabin will make a series of straightforward commitments to young people aimed at helping them into work. These will include a work experience guarantee, alongside a pledge to deliver more apprenticeships, skills training and mental health support in collaboration with partners.
 
Taken together, these four cast-iron commitments make up the West Yorkshire Promise – a simple belief that no young person in the region should ever leave education without having first set foot in a workplace, and that no young person should be left on the scrapheap simply because the support they need is split between different agencies that don’t speak to one another.
 
The launch event will bring young people together with the employers and educators that hold the keys to their success, to discuss the region’s response to the youth unemployment crisis gripping Britain. 
 
Bradford was chosen for the launch as it’s one of the country’s leading success stories for turning the tide against the rising number of young people falling out of education. In the year 2022-2023, 6.8% of young people aged 16-17 in Bradford were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). Today, that figure is almost a third lower at 4%, and below the national average of 5.8%.
 
The landmark West Yorkshire Promise comes at a moment of national alarm. Last month, the Government’s independent review into Young People and Work – led by the former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, and supported by Mayor Brabin as a member of its dozen-strong expert panel – warned that Britain faces a “lost generation”.
 
Almost a million 16-24 year olds now find themselves NEET, a number that could climb to 1.25 million – or a staggering one in six young people – if nothing changes over the next five years. Crucially, the review found that the vast majority of these young people desperately want to work or train, but simply can’t find the way in to a decent job.
 
While various top-down solutions are being proposed, the West Yorkshire Promise shows the country a different path – one where Mayors are truly empowered to join up local services so they can support young people in the round, ending the status-quo of young people being passed from pillar to post with little coordination between health, employment, skills and education services.
 
It is hoped that if this local, joined-up, West Yorkshire model works, it could be rolled out nationwide as part of the solution to the NEET crisis, with Mayor Brabin set to report on its successes to the Young People and Work review over the coming months.

Speaking at the launch event, Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, will say:

“Talent is everywhere in West Yorkshire, but opportunity isn’t. Where you come from shouldn’t decide how far you can go, and that is at the heart of our West Yorkshire Promise – a fair chance to flourish for every young person, no matter their background or postcode.
 
“So to every young person struggling to find work, and to every mum, dad or grandparent lying awake at night worried about their kids future, my message is simple – we will not write this next generation off. We will guarantee real work experience alongside the apprenticeships, skills training and mental health support our young people need to not only survive but thrive.
 
“Because you cannot fix this crisis from behind a desk in Whitehall. To join up support around a single young person – and save this next generation from a crisis of underconfidence and underemployment – you have to trust the places that know them best to deliver”.
 
The West Yorkshire Promise includes four concrete commitments to every young person aged 14-24. These are:

• A guaranteed taste of work for everyone

Working hand in hand with every secondary school, college, and a growing number of local employers, the Combined Authority will double the number of young people gaining meaningful work experience between the school years of 7 and 13 over the next three years.

This is the first big step towards delivering a guarantee of work experience for every young person by the time they turn 18. It builds on the 1,637 pupils who received a work placement through the region’s Careers Hub over the past year, and includes nearly £3 million to create new construction places for 16 to 18 year olds, to support the growth of West Yorkshire’s towns and cities and its new Weaver Network.
The first wave of support is aimed squarely at the young people who need it most – those from poorer backgrounds, those with additional needs, and those most at risk of dropping out of school.

• More apprenticeships made easier

The Combined Authority will turbocharge apprenticeships with a new offer that makes it far simpler for smaller firms to take on an apprentice.
 
It already runs a scheme that matches big employers’ unused apprenticeships funding with smaller businesses so they can afford the training costs. So far, the costs for hundreds of apprentices have been fully covered, with household names like Amazon and Asda among those passing on their funding to local businesses via the Combined Authority. The aim is to double apprenticeship starts by 2035.

• Real-world skills

Beyond exams, the West Yorkshire Promise will help young people to build the skills that employers say they’re crying out for, from the confidence to speak up, to the ability to work in a team, solve problems, think creatively, contribute to the growth of a business, or even set up their own business.
 
Importantly, the Promise recognises that young people learn these skills everywhere, not just in the classroom – through sports, volunteering, the arts, and through time spent in the workplace. All of these pursuits and enrichment opportunities will be encouraged and prioritised over the next ten years.

• No young person left behind because of their health

Too many young people are being lost to the labour market because of a mental or physical health condition, and the Milburn review found that these young people make up a fast-growing share of those who are NEET.
 
Through its Healthy Working Life programme, the Combined Authority will help 2,000 young people with a health condition to get closer to earning or learning over the next 18 months, with advisers who treat them as a whole person, not a problem to be passed around different services.

Chris Webb, the CEO and Principal of Bradford College which is hosting the event, said:

“At Bradford College, we see every day the difference that the right opportunity at the right time can make to a young person’s future. The West Yorkshire Promise is exactly the kind of bold, joined-up approach that’s needed to ensure no one is left behind. 
 
“Because right now for our students the world isn’t a meritocracy and their lack of social capital holds them back. Every 14-24 year old not only deserves a chance, they deserve a champion too.

“By guaranteeing meaningful experiences of the workplace, alongside the skills, support and confidence young people need, we can help unlock talent across our region and turn aspiration into real career pathways.”
 
The keynote speech will be delivered by James Pearson – an 18-year old apprentice working at the Leeds-based young persons’ charity CATCH. James – who has channelled his own experience of navigating complex social care and employment support services to help other young men and women to do the same – will speak about the unfair structural and institutional barriers that stop young people today from reaching their full potential.

James Pearson, Business Administration Apprentice at CATCH Leeds, said:

“I’ve been part of a system that didn’t work, and witnessed how young people can fall through the cracks. Growing up in Old Farnley, Leeds, I was surrounded by drug addiction from people and family around me, and that meant I had ultimately taken on the responsibility for my two younger sisters. 
 
“As a result, I lost much of my education and childhood. At eight years old, my Nan took us into foster care, and what was meant to be temporary became permanent when drugs took both of my parents’ lives.

“I have used the experiences to strengthen my character, and become resilient. I was inspired to join the Police. At 18, after completing a Public Services course and midway through a Business Administration Apprenticeship at CATCH Leeds, I applied to be a Special Constable. I was rejected because of choices made around me that followed me into the careers I wanted to make a difference in.

“Young people don’t choose their circumstances, but we carry the consequences. The West Yorkshire Promise is a real step in the right direction and it’s hopeful that local action is being taken to make change. Now we all have a role to play in making sure no young person is left behind again."
 
The Promise is also backed by hard targets. By 2035, the Combined Authority is aiming to halve the number of 16-17 year olds Not in Education, Employment or Training – down from 6% to 3% – and bring youth unemployment down to the national average, which on current figures would mean 3,100 more young people in work.
 
West Yorkshire has spent five years building the foundations for the Region of Learning and Creativity Strategy to succeed.

• In Bradford, a relentless focus on early support has pushed the share of 16-18 year olds not in education or work down to 4.1%, well below the national average, in part due to the successful tracking of at-risk young people by the council.
  
  
• In Leeds, a pioneering scheme has helped young people with additional needs but no formal support plan to thrive in year-long work placements, with big gains in confidence and wellbeing reported.
  
  
• Across the region, Employment West Yorkshire – the Mayor's flagship jobs programme, delivered locally in every council area – has supported more than 2,700 young people (aged under 24) since 2025 alone.
  
  
• And in January, the region launched a new Creative Health programme, using music, art, sport, and the great outdoors to keep people well and in work – proof that this is about happier, healthier lives, not just jobs.

At the core of the plan is a blunt argument about how the country is run.
 
Today, a young person struggling to find their feet might be dealing with the Department for Work and Pensions about benefits, the Department for Education about skills training, and the NHS about their mental health – three vast Whitehall departments that rarely join the dots.
 
The Milburn review found exactly this – a system where the parts are too slow to act and don’t work together, and where young people too easily slip through the gaps between them.
 
The Mayor’s answer is “no wrong door” – a local system which ensures that wherever a young person turns up to for help, the right support follows, in a way that is joined up and treats them them like a human being to help, not a problem to solve.
 
If someone walks into a GP surgery with a mental health diagnosis, they shouldn’t just be signed off as a patient – they should be given a helping hand toward a local job that could be a great fit for their personality and talents. Equally, the employer that takes them on should receive the advice and the finance it needs to be able to make workplace adjustments and become more inclusive, boosting their recruitment and retention for the long-term.
 
That, the Combined Authority argues, can only be done locally – by Mayors and councillors who understand their towns and cities, schools and colleges, and employers and educators best. It is why West Yorkshire is calling on the Government to commit further and faster to the devolution revolution, and hand the region real control over careers advice alongside a proper say on training for 16-19 year olds, a defined role in the apprenticeships system, and the sufficient and sustainable funding it needs to plan for the long-term.
 
The Region of Learning and Creativity Strategy covers all 2.4 million residents of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield, and will run for the next ten years. The Combined Authority is calling on employers, businesses, colleges, councils, charities and communities across the region to get behind it.

The Region of Learning and Creativity Strategy can be read here, with a 1.3 minute video explainer.