Impetus responds to Government reforms on vocational education and apprenticeships

"Today the government announced they will create stronger pathways in school towards vocational and technical training and remove key financial barriers to apprenticeships for young people facing disadvantage.

We broadly welcome these reforms, which reflect some of the key recommendations from our latest report, Closing the Youth Jobs Gap. In particular, we asked the government to remove the financial disincentives which can stop young people living in households in receipt of Universal Credit from accessing apprenticeships. We also called for better support for employers - especially SMEs - to create opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The evidence is clear that apprenticeships have a positive impact on young people's employment outcomes, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Removing cost as an obstacle is an important step towards ensuring more young people can access high-quality routes into skilled work.

We are pleased the government is committed to creating a system where technical and academic qualifications have parity of esteem, and where there is greater alignment between education and later employment outcomes. We do hope, however, that the government considers lessons from other places - like the Netherlands - which offer a similar system of students choosing vocational or academic routes at 14. As we highlight in our Youth Jobs Gap report, filtering at this age can narrow young people's options, further disadvantaging them in the long term. This must be avoided, and makes gaining English and maths GCSEs even more vital, particularly for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. It is these passport qualifications that will keep opportunity open and that are the single biggest protective factor against being NEET in young adulthood. Currently only 43% of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds pass their GCSE English and Maths exams, compared to 73% of their better off peers and this must change.

We look forward to seeing more detail on what these reforms look like in practice, and to working with the government to ensure they expand opportunity and improve outcomes for all young people."