As youth unemployment remains perennially high many young people aren't being supported to reach their potential. But Amey, an industry leader in employment, apprenticeship and training opportunities - and accredited partner on the Skills Builder Employer Programme - is changing that by advocating for essential skills.

Essential skills, including teamwork and problem solving, support young people to unlock higher wages, boost their employability, and increase their life satisfaction. 

However, many are missing out on opportunities to develop them and there are huge inequalities and skills gaps across the UK.

That’s why Amey brought Skills Builder Partnership, Investors in People, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, BITC, and other sector leaders together to discuss a collective approach for supporting young people to develop their essential skills in youth programmes. We were also joined by 28 young people on the DofE programme, hearing their insights and experiences. 

Their report, Bolder Conversations: Putting essential skills at the heart of young people programmes, summarises these discussions and proposes what businesses can do to boost young people’s essential skills as part of their outreach and staff learning & development.

This includes providing greater visibility of roles across sectors, offering insight days, investing in underrepresented communities, and having visible role models from these communities. It also endorses using our Universal Framework in education “so that it provides a familiar language for young people when embedded into job descriptions” and in interviews. 

Watch this video to see what the roundtable looked like in action.