The Government’s Transformation Challenge Award supports the best performing councils and aims to give local authorities more control over how they spend public money in their area while setting an example for others to follow.

Local Government Minister Kris Hopkins announced Warwickshire County Council, which put in a bid jointly with Coventry City Council, as one of the successful bidders to the Transformation Challenge Award after the authority set out how it will improve young people’s job prospects, reducing welfare payments and increasing revenue in taxes to the treasury.

As well as boosting economic growth, Warwickshire’s Youth Transition Partnership will reduce the demands made to public services by those not in education, employment or training.  The project will look to reduce incidence of anti-social behaviour and crime, improve levels of physical and mental health while directing young people towards more positive outcomes.

In a recent study, undertaken by Deloittes, the national cost to the treasury of young people who are not in work was estimated at £4.8bn in welfare payments as well as £10.7bn in lost output, ie income tax that is not being paid, as a result of not being in full time employment.

For many, there is no incentive to take short-term jobs so whilst the number of young people claiming jobseekers allowance might be low (in the Coventry and Warwickshire area it is 2,330 young people between the ages of 18 and 24) the actual number of young people not in work or full time education is much higher (the figure for Coventry and Warwickshire has been estimated at 17,800 young people out of work).

The TCA funding will be used to commission a comprehensive study into how to make such young people more employable.  Early engagement within the education process, leading to more young people leaving with a Level 2 or Level 3 qualification, will lead to more entering full-time employment.   A cost benefit analysis applied to the potential outcome of the transition work estimates that this could yield a net benefit to the public purse of nearly £2.4million, a 1,600% return on the investment.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Leader of Warwickshire County Council and Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, said:

“A key part of Warwickshire’s bid was the fact that we could provide evidence of effective partnership working.  The county council is already doing a lot of work to reduce the numbers of NEETS – those not in employment, education or training – and this award will support us in this hugely important task.”

Cllr Richard Chattaway, Chair of the Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee at Warwickshire County Council, welcomed the improved employment prospects for some of the county’s more disadvantaged young people, adding:

“Once established, the Youth Transition Partnership will aim to improve outcomes for those who are at risk of being lost to the system and help them to contribute positively to our society.  We recognise that there is a considerable challenge ahead.”