It’s clear that addressing the challenge of youth unemployment is a collective endeavour. And it isn’t easy. Yet by addressing it, we benefit people, communities, employers, industries and the economy. In the Secretary’s words, it’s a cause very much in the national interest. Win win all round.
The really exciting thing about our Summit and Awards is that it gathers together hundreds of people from dozens upon dozens of organisations who are all committed to that cause. Employers and youth organisations who collaborate, innovate and partner with others to support young people with meaningful pathways to work. They understand the challenges, they see the opportunities and they are driven to do more.
We channeled that energy into some excellent discussions, starting with a panel led by our fantastic host, Ben Shephard and featuring employers Diageo and Compass Group, alongside youth organisation Thrive and the brilliant Fathi Abdulahi who secured a role at Accenture through a Movement to Work programme. This experienced group explored the benefits of taking a place-based approach to creating youth employment opportunities. We heard how our YouthPath initiative – working directly with Combined Authorities to galvanise local employers and grass-roots youth organisations – is already delivering local opportunity and impact in the West Midlands, Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester.
Inviting all of our guests to weigh in on this topic, our roundtable discussions focused on how we can accelerate this place-based approach to help employers and young people realise the promise of the Government’s Youth Guarantee. These conversations – between employers, civil service, youth organisations, training partners and young people themselves – were rich, insightful and multi-faceted, offering a range of insights we’ll be sharing with our network.
If our Summit fuelled the brain, our Awards certainly fuelled the heart. We hold these annual awards because helping more young people into work requires belief, commitment and tenacity – from employers, from partners and from young people. And we believe that deserves to be recognised and celebrated.
There were so many incredible nominations this year that reaching a shortlist in each category was tough enough, let alone selecting the ultimate winner – I take my hat off to our fabulous panel of judges. Each nomination is a story of outstanding contribution – employers challenging the status quo and creating intentionally inclusive opportunities for young people; partners offering meaningful, lasting support for young people when they need it most; and young people who have boldly embraced the opportunities created. You can see a full list of our amazing award winners here.
While our employers and partners shone on stage, our brightest stars were, as ever, the young people who spoke during the day, were nominated or won awards. Many bravely talked about the challenges they have overcome to succeed. All inspired us with their resilience, determination, integrity and adaptability. Which employer would not want these qualities in their future workforce?
Of course, events like these don’t happen without a huge amount of hard work and lots of backing. I offer sincere thanks to our speakers, panellists, award nominators, nominees and winners, our bedrock Steering Group and our award sponsors and contributors whose generous support helped make this year’s Summit and Awards such a memorable and impactful event. And last but certainly not least, thank you to the mighty team at Movement to Work who make all the magic happen.
If you’d like to be part of driving lasting social change for young people, we’d love to hear from you.
Contact us at info@movementtowork.com to find out more or to sponsor an award in 2027
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