Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Centrepoint

Summary

The closing of local Connexion services in many local authority areas is having a disproportionately negative effect on disadvantaged young people such as those Centrepoint supports. Of particular concern is the removal of a guarantee of face-to-face guidance and the ending of the offer of holistic advice, including on issues such as benefits, housing and homelessness.

Furthermore, there are considerable gaps in the new careers guidance offer delivered via the national careers services and learning providers such as schools and colleges. Of particular note:

By focusing only on schools, sixth form and FE colleges, the most disadvantaged young people may miss out on provision altogether

Even if young people are studying in the relevant institutions, there is no guarantee of face-to-face guidance

There is no mechanism by which to ensure a consistently high quality of advice and guidance

Centrepoint urges DfE to act urgently to remedy this situation, either through an extension of the offer provided by the NCS, or by ensuring that local authorities continue to provide face-to-face careers guidance for disadvantaged young people.

About Centrepoint: Centrepoint is the leading national charity working with homeless young people aged 16 to 25. As well as being a registered social housing provider, we run Workwise: a sector-based work academy for young people. On arrival at Centrepoint, over half (55%) of the young we work with are not in employment, education or training (NEET), but this falls to 29% by the time they leave our services.

I. Introduction

1. Centrepoint works with 1000 disadvantaged young people every year. As well as providing supported housing, we provide learning options and careers advice and guidance through our dedicated learning team. We have worked closely with local Connexions services since its inception in 2000, as well as with colleges and other learning providers. Our work with young people over 40 years has given us a valuable perspective on how changes in provision of careers guidance has affected disadvantaged young people.

2. We are extremely concerned by the reduction of careers services that has occurred over the last two years. In particular, we are concerned that the loss of Connexions services in many local authority areas and the significant gaps in the new set of entitlements to face-to-face guidance is disproportionately affecting disadvantaged young people. Furthermore, we worry that the lack of consistent, good quality careers advice is proving damaging in other policy areas, such as the raising of the participation age (RPA) to 18 by 2015. We pursue these points in more detail below.

3. The young people that we work with also feel very strongly about the loss of careers services in many of the areas in which they live, and in particular the loss of face-to-face guidance. The Centrepoint Parliament—a group of young people that Centrepoint works with who have been elected by their peers—has made careers guidance the subject of their main campaign. As part of this campaign, they recently staged the critically acclaimed “Nine Rooms” theatrical event to highlight the impact that lack of good quality advice and guidance can have on young people’s lives. You can find more information and see videos of the event at www.centrepoint.org.uk/9rooms.

II. What do disadvantaged young people think about careers guidance?

4. In a recent survey of the young people that Centrepoint works with, only 41% of young people rated careers advice provide by schools or colleges as “very good” or “good”. This compares to 63% who rated Connexions services as “good” or “very good” and 77% who rated Centrepoint careers provision as “good” or “very good”.1 The discrepancy between school/college provided careers guidance and Connexions provided careers guidance is shown in table 1, below. These findings are consistent with other research that has found that disadvantaged young people—for example, those in pupil referral units—are generally positive about Connexions services and more positive than their less disadvantaged peers.

Table 1: Connexions vs. school/college provided careers guidance

Service providing careers guidance	Those that found it “poor” or “very poor”	Those that found it “good” or “very good”
Connexions	2%	63%
School/college	34%	41%

5. The perceived gap in quality of provision between Connexions and schools/colleges is extremely worrying as it is the latter that are expected to be the primary provider of face-to-face advice and guidance for young people under the new careers offer. If nothing else, this suggests that schools and colleges will need additional support in commissioning quality careers guidance, in a nascent market and with no additional funding for procurement. Over time, it is important that the government continues to look at whether the “learning provider-led model” for commissioning careers guidance services provides an effective offer for young people, and in particular disadvantaged young people who are likely to need more intensive support.

6. There were a number of reasons that young people rated Connexions services more highly than a school/college based system for careers. Firstly, Connexions services offered advice and guidance on a wide range different areas and could signpost young people on to a range of different support services, including homelessness services such as Centrepoint. They were thus a source of assistance in a number of areas that matter to young people. One young person interviewed as part of our research said:

“Connexions really helped me. I love Connexions. Connexions helped me get this hostel when I was homeless”

Female young person, 20

7. Secondly, Connexions workers are trained youth careers professionals and so are likely to be able to offer more informed advice and guidance than their counterparts in schools or colleges. As another young person said:

“[School careers advice was an] awful, impersonal, waste of time with people that don’t really know much about the current jobs market”.

Male young person, 21

III. What are the problems with the new careers offer?

8. The widespread loss of Connexions throughout the country, caused by the effective removal of the £200 million funding it had hitherto received and the removal of local authorities’ duty to provide careers services, has meant that a guarantee of holistic, face-to-face guidance has vanished for many young people. We have three major concerns with the new careers offer for young people which has largely replaced Connexions:

(a)By focusing only on schools, sixth form and FE colleges, many disadvantaged young people will miss out on provision altogether

(b)Even if young people are studying in the relevant institutions, there is no guarantee of face-to-face guidance

(c)There is no mechanism by which to ensure a consistently high quality of advice and guidance

i. By focusing only on schools, sixth forms and FE colleges, many disadvantaged young people will miss out on provision altogether

9. Many of the young people that Centrepoint support left school at an early age. We are therefore concerned about the main duty for careers advice resting with schools and colleges as, even when the threshold is raised in line with RPA, this will only cover those in mainstream FE institutions. It will not cover young people in work-based training and “re-engagement provision”, and it will also fail to catch NEET young people, who are arguably in greatest need of guidance. In the past, Connexions played an important role in supporting vulnerable young people who had access to very little other assistance. It was also important in referring young people to wider support services, including Centrepoint accommodation services. Without this universal provision, Centrepoint is therefore extremely concerned that the most vulnerable are going to be left without the support they need.

10. The extent of the duty for post-16 learning providers to provide careers guidance is far from comprehensive, and is likely to miss young people in alternative education and training provision. We welcome the proposals contained in the recent consultation document on careers, that the Department will look at what steps can be taken to provide careers guidance for those young people who are not in mainstream post-16 educational institutions, including those young people in work-based training, sector-based work academies and learning programmes classed as “re-engagement provision” under RPA. It is extremely important that these young people who need careers guidance the most are not denied access to it.

11. However, DfE has yet to publish any concrete proposals in this area. Furthermore, it unlikely that the “learning provider-led” model of careers provision will extend to this group of institutions, for two reasons. Firstly, the Department has been reluctant to put duties on providers that are not publicly funded. Given that many “re-engagement providers” are funded either privately or through the European Social Fund, this could prevent a block to extending duties in this way. Secondly, many re-engagement providers are small-scale organisations and as such would not have the capacity—in terms of either staff or resources—to offer quality careers guidance. We fear, therefore, that this is not a viable model for reaching the thousands of young people in this type of learning provision.

ii. Even if young people are studying in the relevant institutions, there is no guarantee of face-to-face guidance

12. Due to a lack of funding, Centrepoint is extremely concerned that many colleges will not be able to offer more than access to online advice. For those with no parental support, poor literacy or other support needs, face-to-face support is crucial to help young people fully understand their options. A face-to-face meeting can be helpful in:

(a)Initially engaging the young person. Those who have faced trauma or are living chaotic lifestyles may not immediate recognise the need to participate, so a face-to-face meeting can be crucial of convincing them of the value of education and training to their long-term plans.

(b)Maintaining their involvement in education by building relationships between young people and careers advisors who can help them overcome barriers to their ongoing participation.

(c)Supporting young people, for example those with additional needs, who might be unsure about using a website or telephone service. It is also worth noting that even the “freephone” national careers service number is not currently free from mobiles, which are often young people’s only easily accessible option.

13. Research has consistently shown the value of face-to-face careers guidance for young people. Research from the NUS and the Learning and Skills Improvement Service found that: “when asked to indicate how they would prefer to receive help and support in the future, the majority of survey respondents (64%) stated face-to-face as their first preference. This is contrast with just 3% who reported that their preferred mode of delivery was ‘by telephone’… with one in six (16%) learners stating that they would prefer to access information [via the internet]”.2

14. Research from Careers England found that: “There is significant evidence that people want personal face-to-face career guidance… Whilst it is true that face-to-face sessions are more expensive than other channels, they are frequently more inspirational too; hence they represent good value for money”.3

Table 2: current and proposed careers entitlements for young people

Age	Education status	Telephone? (National Careers Service: 0800 100 900)	Online? (https://nationalcareers service. direct.gov.uk)	Face-to-face? (at eg Jobcentre, school or college)
14—16	In education or training	Yes	Yes	Maybe (if at a school which provides it)
	Not in education or training	Yes	Yes	No
17–18	In education or training	Yes	Yes	Maybe* (if at a college or other FEI which provides it)
	Not in education or training	Yes	Yes	Maybe* (if 18 and on out of work benefits)
19–24	In education or training	Yes	Yes	Maybe (only three sessions if on out of work benefits, or one session if not)
	Not in education or training	Yes	Yes	Maybe (only three sessions if on out of work benefits, or one session if not)

iii. There is no mechanism by which to ensure a consistently high level of quality of advice and guidance

15. The guidance to learning providers only requires schools to provide “impartial” advice to young people who are enrolled with them. Given the fact that they have been given no extra funding and often have low levels of experience of commissioning, it is not clear what quality of service will be offered. We welcome the fact that the government has introduced the “matrix” professional standard for providers, but this is an area that needs to be kept under review.

Iv. The Effect of a Reduced Careers Offer on Other Policy Areas

16. By way of conclusion, we briefly chart the adverse impact we believe that the reduction in careers services is having on two other policy areas, one of which is related to DfE, one to other government departments. The first concerns the raising of the participation age (RPA). Connexions services were crucial in planning RPA. One local authority official in communication described Connexions to us as “the glue that was supposed to hold the pieces of RPA together”. However, now that this network of support has all but gone, it presents a number of practical problems:

The mechanism by which local authorities encourage young people who are NEET to re-engage is diminished and it is not clear how many councils will be able to effectively target and support young people without the help of Connexions advisors, or similar.

Local authorities’ ability to identify young people who they currently do not know about (up to a third of 16 and 17 year-olds in some local authority areas) is severely reduced.

Voluntary and community sector services, such as Centrepoint who work with some of the most vulnerable young people will not get the support from Connexions they once had to support the hardest to reach 16 and 17 year-olds into education and training.

Young people aged 16 and 17 who are in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) and who used to only be able to claim JSA by going through Connexions—thus enabling them to be get support from that service—may no longer do so in many areas.

17. The second policy area upon which the new careers offer may have a detrimental impact is youth homelessness. In the past, as indicated above, many of the young people that have come to Centrepoint have been referred to us by Connexions. In some cases, young people were not aware they were homeless (eg because they were “sofa-surfing” at friends houses, or sleeping in an abandoned building) until they received advice from a Connexions advisor. Our concern, now that this holistic source of information, advice and guidance is no longer available, is that the number of homeless young people in this situation will increase, as young people may increasingly fail to be referred on to housing and homelessness support services.

V. Conclusion

18. Centrepoint has significant concerns about the government’s current careers guidance offer for young people. The limited scope and content of provision for all young people are of concern, but we fear that these deficiencies will be of particular detriment to disadvantaged young people. Our experience suggests that young people who are NEET, or otherwise disengaged—including the young people that we work with—may fall through the holes in provision and feel the loss of guaranteed face-to-face guidance particularly acutely. As such, we recommend that DfE urgently look at what can be done to remedy this situation, either through an extension of the offer provided by the NCS, or by ensuring that local authorities continue to provide face-to-face careers guidance for disadvantaged young people.

October 2012