The House of Lords Youth Unemployment Committee published their new report, ‘Skills for every young person’ last Friday 26th November 2021.The full report is available here, as well as a web story that summarises the key findings accessibly and a report launch video. The Following Young Fathers Further submitted evidence to the written inquiry back in May 2021 and some of this evidence has been cited in the report.
Based on our submission, the committee has recognised and highlighted young parents as a population that is likely to face additional barriers in accessing the labour market and receiving the support that they need. This includes challenges in overcoming where there may be gaps in their CVs and structural barriers including lack of affordable and flexible access to childcare. They also noted our argument that access to Further Education is more challenging to those over the age of 20, the cut off point for Care to Learn funding (which supports young people to pay for childcare while studying). Additionally, the report acknowledges that there is a lack of dedicated data collection about how many unemployed young people may also be young parents.
You can also read our blog about why we submitted to the inquiry. This features a short video by Will of our project partners, the North East Young Dads and Lads, who explains the challenges he has faced in securing secure and meaningful employment as a parent.