I have spent more than 25 years working at the point where education, employability and opportunity meet, and I have rarely seen the stakes as high as they are today.
As I prepare to take up the role of chief executive at City Year UK this August, one number sits at the front of my mind. For the first time since 2013, more than a million young people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training. According to the Office for National Statistics, that is roughly one in eight of an entire generation standing outside the world of work and learning.
We have grown used to describing this as a social crisis, and it is. But I want to make the case to Britain’s business leaders that it is also, squarely, a business one. A government-commissioned review has estimated that youth disengagement now costs the country around £125 billion a year in lost productivity, weaker tax receipts and higher demand on public services. That is more than England spends on education. No employer, and certainly no small or medium-sized business trying to hire, is insulated from a figure of that scale.
A shrinking, skills-misaligned talent pool
For SMEs the implications are immediate and practical. When nine in ten businesses report that entry-level candidates arrive without the skills they need, recruitment becomes slower, costlier and riskier. At the same time, expectations on firms to show genuine social impact have never been higher. The temptation is to treat these as two separate problems, one for the finance director and one for the sustainability report. In truth they are the same problem, and they can share the same solution.
The crucial point, and the one I most want employers to grasp, is that the barriers holding young people back rarely appear at the point of hiring. By the time a young person reaches the labour market, the issues that limit their employability, low attendance, low confidence, weak foundational skills, are often already entrenched. If we wait until the graduate milk round or the apprenticeship application to intervene, we are intervening years too late.
What near-peer mentoring actually changes
City Year UK exists to intervene earlier. We place trained 18 to 25-year-olds as full-time, near-peer mentors in schools serving disadvantaged communities, where they support pupils at risk of falling behind academically or socially. Over 15 years, our 1,800 mentors have worked one to one and in small groups with more than 17,000 children, and contributed to a more positive school culture for over 136,000 pupils.
The results matter to educators and employers alike. Mid-year evaluation shows that 80 per cent of the pupils we support say their mentor helps them feel happier and more comfortable at school. Modelling suggests that sustained improvements in maths and English attainment could add £5.48 million in lifetime earnings across a single cohort, and generate a 29 per cent positive social return on investment if support continues through to Year 11.
There is a second dividend that businesses tend to overlook. Our mentors are young adults too, and they finish the year with an accredited leadership qualification, stronger employability skills and professional networks. More than nine in ten of them are in education, employment or training within three months of completing their City Year. In plain business terms, this is a long-horizon talent pipeline with measurable downstream impact at both ends.
From sponsorship to strategy
I am encouraged that corporate engagement is already shifting from ad-hoc charitable giving towards integrated workforce strategy. Leading employers are beginning to see three value drivers clearly: shaping the skills and aspirations of future entrants, reducing the risk of long-term economic inactivity in their communities, and delivering tangible, measurable social outcomes rather than vague goodwill.
The most effective partnerships go further than funding. When businesses actively engage with our work, through workplace visits that demystify industries, employee mentoring, employability workshops on CVs and interviews, or simple insight into apprenticeships and entry-level routes, they help young people translate aspiration into opportunity. For many, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, it is the first time they can clearly picture a path into work. This is precisely the moment when government efforts, such as the recent £725 million package to expand apprenticeships, need employers standing alongside them rather than waiting downstream.
The smart thing, not just the right thing
The companies that lead over the next decade will be those that treat social investment not as peripheral philanthropy but as core infrastructure for future growth. In an economy where skills, inclusion and productivity are so tightly bound together, supporting young people into education, employment and training is no longer only the right thing to do. It is increasingly the smart thing to do.
As I step into this role, my ask of Britain’s business community is straightforward. Look at that £125 billion figure, look at your own hiring challenges, and recognise that the two are connected. Then help us reach further into the schools that need us most. The talent you will be competing for in five years is sitting in a classroom today. The question is whether anyone is investing in them now.
