North West Youth Employment Convention Wednesday, 23 November 2011 Nick Page

1. North West Youth Employment ConventionWednesday, 23 November 2011Nick Page

2. What Poverty Means For A Family • Children and families are officially considered to be living in poverty if the household is either • out of work and in receipt of benefits, or in receipt of tax credits where • the reported income is less than 60% median income. • In 2008, 60% median income level was equivalent to income levels before housing costs of: • £225 per week for a single adult with two dependent children under 14. • £294 per week for a couple with two dependent children under 14. • This mean that families living in poverty may have less than £11 per day per person • to buy everything they need. “My children never get pocket money because I can’t afford it and they don’t tell me if they have holes in their shoes because they know I don’t have the money to buy new ones” “I couldn’t afford the school uniform for my daughter so I had to take things to Cash Converter to pay for it”

3. 9,305 Poverty And Work Almost 4 in 5 children living in out of work poverty in Salford are from lone parent households. Couples Lone Parents Out Of Work 2, 560 1, 655 1,110 Almost 3,000 Salford children live in working poverty. In Work

4. For Some Areas Of The City And Family Groups, The Risk Of Growing Up In Poverty Is Significantly Higher.... Families in poor housing Lone parents families Large families Teenage parent families Black and minority ethnic families Families living with disability

5. ..... The Costs Of Poverty Are Staggering Cost of Social Worker contact £58 (30 minute) The average cost per Looked After Child across all placements is £774 per week. * A child supported in their family per average week is £157 *Local authority foster care for children £676 per week Benefit payments to a teenage mother, unemployed during 3yrs following birth of child is £19K - £25k Cost to NHS re Teenage pregnancy £63 million per year Cost of taking a child into care £36,653 Parenting Order £781 School Exclusion - £63,851 lifetime Truancy £44,468/lifetime *Incredible years parenting programme (12 parents per group) - £1559 Above figures are estimates from the Think Family Toolkit (2009) and University of Kent, Unit Cost of Health and Social Care 2010. 5

6. Taking A Lifecycle Approach Adult years Adults achieve economic independence and wellbeing, and provide a stable and supportive environment for their families Early years Every child is entitled to the best possible start in life that builds upon their individual needs, so that they meet their developmental and educational milestones and become confident and capable learners ready to start school Teenage years All young people have the skills and aspirations to make informed choices and reach their potential. Childhood years All children have equal opportunity to thrive and develop the foundations for future success in their adult years.

7. Taking The Next Big Step The Salford strategy proposes a set of major step changes to improve the way we work together: • Neighbourhood early intervention and prevention • Employer engagement • Joining up investment • Skills and adult learning • Financial inclusion

8. The Salford NEET context • NEET Reduction – • 16-18 NEET reduced by 43% between 2006/7 and 2010/11 (Source: National Connexions data) • Performance over last 12-24 months often better than the England average and those of statistical neighbours (including performance relating to vulnerable groups) (Source: National Connexions data) • Between 2006 and 2010 - 56% reduction in the proportion of Salford school leavers who are NEET and a 14% improvement in those going on to participate in learning over the same period (full time further education, government supported training, apprenticeships and jobs with training to NVQ2) (Source: Connexions Annual Activity Salford School Leavers)

9. Significant factors in NEET reduction • Culture – focus on getting young people in to education, employment or training and supporting them to stay there • Partnership and collaborative working – involving organisations working with young people, everyone's business • Innovation – e.g. use of life coach, using discretionary funding (NRF and ESF) to develop provision to engage targeted and vulnerable (including pre 16 not engaged). • Responsiveness/flexibility – changing practice all the time in response to developments and using performance information as basis. • Equality – increasing ambition, access and success – stretch targets for vulnerable groups and wards/neighbourhoods • Value for money and value added -better use of partnership working

10. Operational priorities • Systematic approach to NEET prevention and reduction including • analysis of NEET group – by school, ward, gender, ethnicity which is shared with partners • early identification and prioritisation of potential NEETs • work with primaries to raise aspirations • tracking - home visits, telephone out of hours, constant conversations • commission opportunities – e.g. Activity Agreement, ESF • financial support • deliver job clubs, job search and life coaching – ensure sustainable progression

11. Strategic priorities going forward • Deliver joined up services that achieve results • High quality advice and guidance (targeted and universal) that improve outcomes • Ensure a range of provision is available that meets the needs of all young people • Work with employers to create opportunities and promote learning