Young Person's Guarantee: children's rights and wellbeing impact assessment (CRWIA)

A Children's Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) relating to the Young Person’s Guarantee launched on 5 November 2020.


Stage 3 - Publication date: June 2021

Summary of policy aims and desired outcomes

The aim of the Young Person’s Guarantee (the Guarantee) is to provide every person aged between 16-24 in Scotland the opportunity, depending on their circumstances, to study, take up an apprenticeship, job or work experience or participate in formal volunteering. This is the ambition of the Guarantee as proposed by Sandy Begbie CBE and committed to by the Scottish Government in the Programme for Government[33].

The Guarantee builds upon our substantial existing investment in education, employability and skills programmes and support that are available to young people by providing additional opportunities and enhancing support. One of the key ambitions of the Guarantee to streamline and simplify the employability and skills system, rather than adding more complexity and, in turn, make it easier for young people to access and progress within those opportunities which will help them obtain employment. This will involve a ‘no wrong door’ approach where delivery partners work collectively to connect and support young people towards positive outcomes as well as making it easier for businesses to recruit and retain young people in sustainable and fair employment.

The importance of delivering the Guarantee is crucial considering the immediate impacts of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on young people’s participation in learning, training and employment. Nonetheless, the Guarantee must be enduring and sustainable, and not just a short-term response to COVID-19. The long-term aim is to ensure that young people in Scotland are supported to make that connection to work and access opportunities, such as training and further learning, that help them to gain and sustain fair employment for years to come.

Executive summary

Scottish Ministers formally launched the Guarantee on 5 November 2020 and published an Activity Plan[34] to support its implementation. The Guarantee will support job creation and skills development by working with partners across the private, public and third sectors to create opportunities for young people to access skills, training and employment.

The Guarantee encompasses education, employability and skills programmes and support for young people. It will ensure that every young person has the opportunity to access to a job, education, training or skills training opportunity. This will contribute to various longer term objectives relating to children and young people. Including:

The Scottish Government are also taking steps to ensure that the Guarantee helps to tackle and address inequalities within the labour market. It is also aligned to existing Scottish Government strategies including:

To summarise, the Guarantee has the potential to have a positive impact on children’s rights as it will help to deliver a fairer, more open and more inclusive Scotland where every young person has the opportunity to succeed. The Guarantee does not discriminate based on background or circumstance, and aims to ensure that services and support are accessible to all and will seek to address barriers which prevent participation and progression. Ultimately, the Guarantee complies with UNCRC requirements.

Background

The development of the Guarantee is one of the first actions to be delivered from the Scottish Government’s responses to recommendations from the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery and the Enterprise & Skills Strategic Board Sub-Group on measures to mitigate labour market impacts from COVID-19.

An Implementation Group, comprised of organisations made up of partners from the public, third, and private sectors (including those who represent the views of young people such as Intercultural Youth Scotland, Young Scot and Glasgow Disability Alliance) and chaired by Sandy Begbie, has considered how best to progress the recommendations from Sandy Begbie’s initial report published in September 2020[38], and the implications of putting them into action.

The Implementation Group has co-produced and published the Activity Plan on 5 November 2020. The Activity Plan sets out the initial high-level activities required to implement the Guarantee. The Plan brings together existing interventions that seek to deliver on the ambition of the Guarantee, and outlines new activity that will maximise and improve this work whilst making it simpler for young people to navigate the education, skills and employability system.

Research and data shows that we are moving from historically low levels of unemployment to a more challenging labour market with young people being particularly impacted by the crisis.

The Guarantee aims to provide a robust package of support to create sustainable opportunities for young people to navigate through this economic crisis and minimise the adverse impact to young people.

The Guarantee seeks to support those in education to progress into further learning, training or employment and to do so in manner which tackles inequalities in the labour market and does not reinforce occupational segregation. For those young people who are in training programmes, it seeks to help them to sustain their participation and progression towards fair and sustainable employment. For those that are unemployed and not participating in other opportunities, it aims to support them into a suitable opportunity and again to progress towards fair and sustainable employment. For those who are in work, the Guarantee aims to address some of the causes of in work poverty by providing training opportunities and encouraging fair and inclusive workplace practices.

In particular, it will contribute towards achieving the following outcomes (some of which relates to children and young people):

  • Developing the Young Workforce (DYW)[39]
  • The Child Poverty Delivery Plan[40]
  • The Learner Journey Review (15-24)[41]
  • The Scotland’s Careers Strategy: Moving Forward[42]
  • National Performance Framework[43]

Scope of the CRWIA, identifying the children and young people affected by the policy, and summarising the evidence base

Although the Guarantee supports young people aged 16-24, for the purposes of the CRWIA, the main affected age group includes those young people aged 16-18 years of age.

According to the most recent (May 2021) published Monthly Participation Snapshot data for 16 and 17 year olds supplied by SDS[44]:

  • 85.4% are participating in education;
  • 7.5 % are in participating in employment;
  • 2.7% are participating in training or other development;
  • 3.1% are unemployed; and
  • 1.2% are unconfirmed.

The research below presents a challenging picture for young people attempting to enter or re-enter the labour market. Examples of evidence include:

Labour Market Monthly Briefing: June 2021

According to the Labour Market Monthly Briefing and the ONS Labour Force Survey for the period February 2021 to April 2021, the unemployment rate for 16-24 year olds in Scotland was 9.1%, compared with 3.6% for 25-34 year olds and 3.5% for 35-49 year olds.

More robust but less timely data from the ONS Annual Population Survey shows the employment rate of 16-24 year olds has fallen by 6.0 percentage points over the year to Jan 2020 - Dec 2020, the largest fall of any age group. Similarly, the unemployment rate of 16-24 year olds for the same period rose by 5.2 percentage points, the greatest rise of any age group.

Scotland's Labour Market: People, Places, and Regions - Statistics from the Annual Population Survey 2019

The evidence from this survey represents more rich but less timely data from the Annual Population Survey and shows that as a percentage of all employees by age band, young people were least likely to be securely employed, for example on a permanent contract.

Underemployment is also a much bigger issue for younger people, with the underemployment rate of employed 16-24 year olds in 2019 at 16.6% in Scotland compared with 7.1% for the employed 16+ population.

The Guarantee is clear that opportunities provided must encompass Fair Work, and be meaningful, sustainable with zero hour contracts being used sensibly. The Scottish Govenrment has recently published research on young people’s experiences of precarious and flexible work[45]. We are currently taking forward a number of the report’s recommendations for example:

  • Through the school curriculum, where learning about the world of work and employment rights are a key part of career education for young people in their senior phase at school. This was introduced through the Developing the Young Workforce Programme;
  • Supporting the STUC’s “Union into Schools” programme, which involves union representatives visiting schools to raise awareness and understanding amongst young people about the importance of citizen’s and workers’ rights and the role played by trade unions in the modern workplace; and
  • The Young Person’s Guarantee website has been updated to signpost young people who want to change their current contract status out of precarious and flexible work, to guidance which will support them to do this.

In 2019, the employment rate for those classed as disabled under the Equality Act 2010 was 49.0%, which was is significantly lower than the employment rate for non-disabled people (81.6%) and an employment rate gap of 32.6 percentage points.

The evidence also shows that in 2019, the disability employment gap across 16-24 year olds was:

  • Men - 22.3 percentage points
  • Women – 16.1 percentage points
  • All – 18.8 percentage points

It is widely acknowledged that disabled people and those with additional support needs often have lower levels of qualifications and poorer employment outcomes than the general population and therefore an inclusive approach that take account of the needs of these groups will be incorporated as part of the implementation process. The Guarantee will uphold and promote the rights of disabled young people to have effective access to education, training, health care, rehabilitation, preparation for employment, and recreational opportunities.

Scotland’s Wellbeing: national outcomes for disabled people

The Guarantee understands the barriers that these young people face which is why they have actively addressed the fact that fewer disabled young adults felt that they are engaged with and listened to than non-disabled adults as discussed in the above publication. We are working closely with the No-One Left Behind Disability Employment team to engage with Disabled People’s Organisations such as Glasgow Disability Alliance, Enable and Inclusion Scotland to gain young people’s input. The Guarantee is inclusive by design and focussed on how it will meet the needs of all young people.

The Fair Work Convention

The Guarantee commits to work to prevent unlawful discrimination against all young people. For instance, employers will be supported to adopt and embed fair and inclusive workplace practices to eliminate discrimination. Employers will also commit to “creating an inclusive and fair workplace” as part of the ‘five asks’ when becoming involved in the Guarantee. Through the framework for Employer Recruitment Incentives, the Workplace Equality Fund and the Guarantee’s website which will contain access to advice, employers will be supported to adopt and embed fair and inclusive workplace practices (as per the Fair Work Convention) to eliminate discrimination. Access to training for delivery partners will also be promoted. We will work with delivery partners to ensure that financial wellbeing and mental health is included within the training opportunities and support provided.

Sector shutdowns during the coronavirus crisis: which workers are most exposed?

This publication from the Institute of Fiscal Studies evidences that there has been a disproportionate and adverse impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on younger workers in the UK. Employees aged under 25 were about two and a half times more likely to work in a sector that is now shut down as other employees. As such, the Guarantee aims to be enduring and sustainable, and not just a short-term response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The long-term aim is to ensure that young people in Scotland are supported to make that connection to work and access valuable opportunities, such as training and further learning, that support them to gain and sustain employment.

Furlough Take-up

Young people have been much more likely to be placed on furlough than other age groups. Latest provisional HMRC Job Retention Scheme statistics for the UK show that as of 30 April 2021, the take-up rate of furlough (percentage of eligible jobs on the scheme) was 25.8% for under 18’s and 15.6% for 18-24 year olds. This compares with 11.7% for all age groups.

HMRC PAYE Employees

The latest HMRC PAYE employee data shows that employees aged under 18 were far more likely to have fallen out of work between February 2020 and May 2021 than any other age group. Employee levels for under 18’s in the UK fell by 28.6% over this period. The second most impacted age group were employees aged 18-24 – falling by 7.4% over the same period.

Although under 18’s and 18-24 year olds together accounted for 13.5% of employees in February 2020, they made up 69.0% of lost employee jobs over the period between February 2020 and May 2021.

Close The Gap - Disproportionate Disruption and The Gender Penalty

There are a number of structural barriers in place concerning women’s employment and opportunities available to them (including occupational segregation, lack of flexible working, caring responsibilities, discrimination, and increased likelihood of working in insecure employment adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19).

The Guarantee aims to support young women in obtaining and sustaining opportunities, and delivery partners will be expected to provide support and opportunities in a way that eliminates unlawful discrimination. Certain policy adaptations, made as a result of the EQIA, will support this aim. For instance, development of the Journey Map[46] (a key activity of the Guarantee) will incorporate the experiences of young women in order to better understand the barriers they face, including discrimination.

#PowerToTheBump and The life chances of young people in Scotland: an evidence review for the First Minister's Independent Advisor on Poverty and Inequality

These publications evidence that young mothers are significantly more likely to experience workplace discrimination, and are more likely to have fewer qualifications and lower incomes. It also describes how young mothers are significantly more likely to experience pregnancy and maternity discrimination, with six times as many under 25 year olds than average reporting being dismissed from their jobs after they tell their employer they are pregnant.

The Guarantee will support employers to provide flexible working, which will be particularly crucial for young mothers with caring responsibilities and by engaging with young parents and families (and trusted organisations who represent them) when implementing the Guarantee.

Parental Employment Support Fund (PESF)

The Guarantee is aligned with the PESF. To support young parents, we have invested an additional £2.35 million in the PESF for those most at-risk of poverty, to mitigate against any disproportional impacts of COVID-19 on young parents. This fund aims to help unemployed parents and those facing in-work poverty find work, boost skill sets and get advice on money. The fund will also provide support for parents who face barriers to progressing their careers, including help to gain qualifications, improving skills or work experience; money advice, and motivational support. By aligning with the PESF, parents, including young parents, will have access to a range of support which will contribute towards advancing the rights and wellbeing of children.

Equality Outcomes – LGBT Evidence Review and Sexual Orientation in Scotland 2017 – A Summary of the Evidence Base:

Discrimination faced by transgender people is identified as a significant challenge which can lead to difficulty in gaining and retaining employment. As a result, many transgender people are unemployed, under-employed or self-employed. According to a 2011 survey[47], employment was identified as being the second top area of concern for the transgender community, with around a third of respondents selecting it as their priority. Difficulty in gaining and retaining employment was considered the most important challenge that transgender people face, with two-thirds of respondents identifying it as the most important challenge.

Available evidence regarding Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI+) people more broadly can be contradictory but there is evidence of increased unemployment rates, and workplace discrimination and harassment. For example, according to the Scottish Survey Core Questions 2015 data, Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Other (LBGO) adults were more likely to be unemployed in 2015 than heterosexual adults[48]. LBGO adults were also less likely to be employed. Only 53% were in employment compared to 57% of heterosexual adults.

Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2018, A Fairer Scotland for All – Race Equality Action Plan 2017-21, EHRC (2009), The Living Standards Outlook 2021, Women’s Budget Group, Taking Stock – Race Equality in Scotland and Young Women Lead 2019/2020:

The surveys and reports above conclude that minority ethnic groups in Scotland are more likely to live in the most deprived areas and are twice as likely to be unemployed as people from white communities. Moreover, previous economic recessions and the economic impact of COVID-19 has disproportionately affected minority ethnic employment, with minority ethnic women more at risk of job disruption and precarious employment.

Structural racism and discrimination are reported to be a significant barrier to minority ethnic groups when seeking opportunities. For example, 52% of the young women employees surveyed by the Young Women Lead reported that they felt disadvantaged at work due to their ethnic, religious or cultural background.

Advancing equality and inclusion, and working to eliminate discrimination is central to the Guarantee to ensure that no one is left behind. We will work with those delivering the Guarantee to take action that will support particular groups better access a range of opportunities – this includes but is not limited to: young black people, young people of colour, young disabled people, young women, young LGBTI+ people, and young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The importance of intersectionality across characteristics will also need to be considered.

The Promise

As part of our monitoring and evaluation process, we will capture impacts on care experienced young people to ensure that implementation of the Guarantee can support advancing equality of opportunity. We will keep in line with our commitment to The Promise, through engagement with specialist organisations and from feedback from young people themselves as we believe that it is important to consider how the Guarantee can better address barriers for care experienced young people.

Developing the Young Workforce Strategy

In order to provide further support to young people, Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) school coordinators have been introduced in to every secondary school in Scotland. The main role of a school coordinator is to support senior leaders in the school to embed the Developing the Young Workforce Strategy and other employer offers within the curriculum. They will create and implement a structure for employer engagement which reflects the school’s demographic, regional and local DYW plans and maintain a robust network of partners within the local business community. In doing so they support school leadership teams in fulfilling national priorities around employability and enterprise, Career Education Standard and Work Placement Standard. By paying close attention to local and national employment data and fostering good relationships, school coordinators identify opportunities for collaborative working focused on better outcomes for young people.

The Guarantee included the recommendation that our lead skills agency Skills Development Scotland should be asked to consider how best a career advice service could operate from early years right through until a young person enters employment.

Careers Strategy: Moving Forward

The SDS Career Review will build on The Careers Strategy: Moving Forward[49]. The response will include the views of young people in its development. This will help to ensure that support for young people is consistent and aligned at the key stages of a young person’s life and reflect our wider vision that the careers system in Scotland is world-class, professional-led, aligned, flexible and delivers for every young person, regardless of where they live in Scotland, their age or circumstance.

To fully support young people, the majority of in-school services are delivered face-to-face, with at least one dedicated member of careers staff working in every state secondary school in Scotland. Informed career advice plays a significant part in helping learners to understand the link between the skills they develop across the curriculum and how these are used in the world of work. Earlier careers advice helps young people make important decisions about subjects, pathways, future learning and future job opportunities. The Review will only strengthen the approach and support to young people.

The provision of effective that career education, information, advice and guidance (CIAG) services is one of many tools which contributes to addressing a range of societal and economic issues, such as youth participation, skills gaps, unemployment and underemployment, inequality of attainment and occupational segregation. With the potential impact of COVID-19 on young people it will become increasingly important that good quality careers advice and guidance can be accessed to help young people in their journeys towards work. There is a strong foundation from which to build with the recent HM Chief Inspector report showing there has been clear improvement in the quality of services delivered by SDS. Significant strengths were evident across all aspects of service delivery and partnership working leading to improved outcomes for young people leaving school.

The Young Person’s Guarantee EQIA and Equality Action Plan

The Scottish Government has completed its Equality Impact Assessment for the Young Person’s Guarantee and has published an Equality Action Plan to sit alongside the Guarantee’s Activity Plan. The Implementation Group which is advising the Scottish Government on the Guarantee has established an Equality sub group to support the delivery of the Equality Action Plan.

The evidence highlights the necessity of the Guarantee to promote the rights and wellbeing of children not only through directly impacting young people accessing the supports available through the Guarantee; but by acting as a means of economic/financial support, it will also support young parents, particularly young mothers, to provide the best opportunities for their children.

We have made a significant commitment to engage with analysts and equality groups to develop a strong evidence base that highlights the barriers groups with protected characteristics (age, disability, sex, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, minority ethnic, religion/belief) face when accessing opportunities. As such, the evidence gathered in this section has informed that the policy relating to the Guarantee should have advancing equity of opportunity at its core, to not only challenge inequalities faced by those with protected characteristics but to also improve their outcomes and wellbeing through the Guarantee.

Children and young people’s views and experiences

The initial report recommends involving young people in co-designing the Guarantee[50]. We have worked closely with young people and the organisations that represent their views throughout the implementation of the Guarantee.

For example, in early October, young volunteers from many different backgrounds and experiences took part in the Young Scot Hive #YSHive digital jam session for the Scottish Government[51]. Young Scot worked in partnership with IYS, Prince’s Trust Scotland, Barnardo’s Scotland, Close the Gap and Enable Works who supported young people to take part. During the session, the young people co-designed the ‘Journey Map’. This map details the steps that can support young people into work, further education, apprenticeships, training and volunteering opportunities. In turn, helping to ensure the Guarantee is inclusive by design as well as focused on meeting the needs of young people.

To ensure the Guarantee continues to meet the needs of those it is designed to support, Young Scot are establishing a Young Person’s Guarantee Youth Leadership Panel. This panel will be made up of 16-24-year-olds from a wide range of backgrounds. They will be involved conversations, exploration and co-design of the Guarantee. We are working with Young People and other partners to explore opportunities for Young People to lead on the governance for the Guarantee.

Linked to this work, we also commissioned IYS, a prominent organisation working with and representing the views of young people of colour and from BAME backgrounds to write a report that presented the barriers from young people from a minority ethnic background faced in accessing opportunities.

IYS were invited to contribute from their expertise knowledge in implementing the Guarantee. On 5 October 2020, they conducted a consultation session with member of IYS Anti-Racist & Pro-Black Youth Ambassadors, a youth led platform to support young Black and young People of Colour Scots in activism and gaining access to decision making. The consultation was attended young Black and young People of Colour.

As young people are integral to the work of the Guarantee, it is a priority for us to work closely and meaningfully with them. Put simply, young people must be involved in the further development and implementation of the Guarantee.

Key Findings, including an assessment of the impact on children’s rights, and how the measure will contribute to children’s wellbeing

It is anticipated that the Guarantee will impact positively on the rights and wellbeing of children.

The Guarantee will support public bodies in Scotland to meet their duties to safeguard, support and promote the wellbeing of children across the country by making an impact across many of the children’s wellbeing indicators. In particular, the Guarantee will help promote the following: Achieving, Healthy, Respected, Responsible and Included.

The Scottish Government will use its procurement and grant mechanism to encourage other delivery partners to meet the aims of the Guarantee and to ensure that they support the wellbeing of children. The Scottish Government will be working with partners to ensure a ‘no wrong door’ approach where delivery partners work collectively to connect young people to positive outcomes.

The Young Person’s Guarantee website sets out how young people can access the Guarantee and be supported in reaching opportunities which are available to them.

Research has shown that young people are the most economically impacted groups as a result of COVID-19. The Guarantee is a vital way of preventing and reducing the number of young people entering or remaining in unemployment. It will contribute to the wellbeing of children and young people by supporting them to participate in employability programmes, including formal volunteering, and provide mental health/wellbeing and financial well-being support. It aims to raise education attainment by increasing the number of young people engaged in learning and skills development and increasing the number of young people achieving qualifications.

By taking these measures, the Guarantee will, in the short-term, help to provide further support to young people, including the DYW school coordinators which have been introduced in to every secondary school in Scotland. By paying close attention to local and national employment data and fostering good relationships, school coordinators identify opportunities for collaborative working focused on better outcomes for young people.

There are various aspects which provide additional opportunities and enhanced support to young people to reduce unemployment caused by the labour market restrictions and rising poverty. It is anticipated that, in the long-run, the Guarantee will be to reduce the employment gap faced by some communities, reduce levels of in-work poverty, support career progression, support inclusive economic growth by helping to tackle inequalities within the labour market.

The intention behind the Guarantee is to provide young people with seamless and joined up support. Each organisation should support young people, in a way that suits their individual circumstances irrespective of what organisation a young person speaks to they should be able to provide (or direct to) the right support for them. The Guarantee aims to act as an ‘umbrella’ for all the available opportunities for young people. Through our employer engagement it will help businesses navigate the landscape of existing programmes aimed at helping young people.

The long-term impacts of the Guarantee will have a positive effect on the wellbeing of young people. These include offsetting the risk of economic scarring on young people, mitigating the increase in child poverty and structural inequalities for equality groups (gender pay gap, disability employment gap, ethnic minority employment gap, young people with care experience and improved health and well-being). The Guarantee is aligned to National Performance Framework outcomes which include:

  • We have a globally competitive, entrepreneurial, inclusive and sustainable economy
  • We are well educated, skilled and able to contribute to society
  • We live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe
  • We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally

It is anticipated that these measures will impact positively on the rights and wellbeing of children by offering a wide range of options and career pathways that will meet their individual needs.

Nonetheless, as the Guarantee is aimed at 16-24 year olds, it is possible that the Guarantee could negatively impact the children of parents who are not eligible to access the opportunities the Guarantee presents i.e. those aged 25 and above. The Scottish Government is mitigating this potential negative impact with various other employability programmes and support such as No One Left Behind[52] which is open to all ages. Fair Start Scotland[53] and the Parental Employment Support Fund[54] is targeted at parents further away from the labour market and the National Transition Training Fund provides support to those facing redundancy. All of these programmes are aligned to the Guarantee and also all support the child poverty delivery plan.

We are currently developing a Measurement and Evaluation Framework which will allow us to monitor the progress and impact on young people and we are working with partners to examine the ways we can improve data sharing.

The measurement and evaluation framework will allow local partners to measure progress and target support (particularly to young intersectional people, young Black people, young people of colour, young disabled people, young women, and minority groups).

Monitoring and review

The Activity Plan detailing the initial activities required to successfully implement the Guarantee highlights our commitment to developing a rigorous measurement and evaluation framework. The framework will inform a thorough assessment of how the Guarantee has supported young people, identify where there have been gaps in measurement and evaluation; and identify areas for improvement. The Guarantee builds on the successes of the DYW to ensuring that we support young people through the economic crisis through the delivery of the Young Person’s Guarantee.

We are working with partners to develop an overarching measurement framework for the Young Person’s Guarantee. This will ensure we can accurately and confidently report on the Guarantee.

The Guarantee’s Implementation Group is made up of 28 partners from the public, third, and private sectors, including organisations who represent the views of young people. This Group currently provide advice to the Scottish Government on the implementation of the Guarantee.

We are currently in the process of developing a formal governance structure for the Guarantee which includes periodic review of the impact of the Guarantee. As part of our governance process we have committed to ensuring that a diverse range of young people and youth organisations are involved in the governance structures of the Guarantee.

CRWIA Declaration

Authorisation

Policy lead

Victoria Beattie
Unit Head
Young Person’s Guarantee Division

Date
14/06/21

Deputy Director or equivalent

Gavin Gray
Deputy Director
Young Person’s Guarantee Division

Date
14/06/21

Contact

Email: Louise.Tannasee@gov.scot

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