Organization for Youth Education & Development (OYED)

List of Youth Programs in EU Member State


List of Youth Programs in EU Member State

Introduction

The Organization for Youth Education and Development (OYED) is an establishment that seeks to promote the interests of young people on a European level. In order to support this youth agenda the OYED is proposing a common EU policy relating to young people, comprised of 10 points. This proposal addresses some of the most pressing challenges faced by young people in the European Union today.

The OYED believes it to be a gross injustice that the opportunities and level of social inclusion that a young individual can expect is dependent on which country they inhabit. There is a clear imbalance within the European Union, which if left unchecked will perpetuate the current trend and threaten European cohesiveness. This proposal seeks to lift the cap on aspiration on a European level.

This memorandum therefore exists to reinforce this common EU policy proposal as it contains extensive research regarding governmentally funded youth programs and initiatives in every EU member state. The broad scope of this research highlights loopholes in existing policies in one or multiple member states, aiding EU legislators to tailor a more effective approach. Over the course of this research three overarching issues have arisen which must be addressed: social mobility, opportunities for young people, especially linking education to work and entrepreneurship and innovation, and political engagement.

United Kingdom

Program Name:
English: Jobcentre Plus  

Website: https://www.gov.uk/contact-jobcentre-plus
Established Year: 2001 

As part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Jobcentre Plus acts within the government’s agenda for community and social welfare, providing community and social welfare services primarily to those attempting to find employment and to those requiring financial provision due to their being unemployed. It is the most visited recruitment website in the UK. The assistance it provides - provided primarily through in-person job-advisors - helps with living costs and other intrinsic costs which are central to the effort of achieving employment. Social-security benefits are provided for those without income from employment due to illness-incapacity, including drug addiction. Employers’ Job vacancies are also advertised within the Labour Market System (LMS). Individuals’ claims made online are prioritised so they are processed first.
Program Name:
English: Work Program

Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/49884/the-work-programme.pdf
Established Year: 2011

The Work Program, a major aspect of the current UK Coalition Government’s welfare reform, is the main-functioning government welfare-to-work scheme, introduced in 2011, replacing a range of programs which existed under the previous Labour government. The main task of the Work Programme is to get the long-term unemployed into work, a task which is outsourced to a range of public sector, private sector, and third sector ‘primes’, or providers. It is therefore available to anyone who is unemployed. The strength is that individuals can be mandated to take part if they still receive Jobseeker’s Allowance after three months of not being in education, employment or training; after nine months if aged 18 to 24; after 12 months if 25 or over. It provides work experience and training for up to 2 years to help people find and stay in work.
Program Name:
English: The Help to Work Scheme

Website: https://www.gov.uk/moving-from-benefits-to-work/job-search-programmes
Established Year: 2014

If a participant finishes on the Work Program but remains unemployed and claiming jobseeker’s allowance, they must participate in the Help to Work scheme. There are three subsequent paths, one of which must be taken: individuals must go to the jobcentre daily to discuss which activities would improve their skill-set and also the progress made in looking for work; they take up a Community Work Placement; or, they must accept intensive support from Jobcentre Plus which means the Jobcentre Plus scheme spends more time looking at how an individual can get back into work. The latter may involve training schemes, funding to cover travel costs or clothes for a job interview, or local work experience. Once one of these three activities is decided as appropriate, a report is provided from the Work Programme provider.
Program Name:
English: New Deal/Flexible New Deal

Website: http://www.ifs.org.uk/economic_review/fp193.pdf
Established Year: 1998

New Deal for Young People (NDYP) received the greatest proportion of New Deal funding, in order to target unemployed youth - those aged 18-24 - who were unemployed for 6 months or longer. Eligibility is granted at the end of this six-month period, the end of which, participation becomes compulsory. The main target audience for the New Deal program was those ‘not in employment, education and training’ (NEETS), most especially those who have left school with no formal qualifications. The three key stages - ‘the Gateway’, ‘Options’, and ‘Follow-Through’ - offered a range of options: a six-month period of subsidised employment, work in the Voluntary Sector, or work in the Environment Task Force; or 52 weeks of full-time education or training. Employability increases through work experience; education and training provide a means of acquiring skills and qualifications.
Program Name:
English: New Enterprise Allowance

Website: https://www.gov.uk/new-enterprise-allowance
Established Year: 2011

New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) aims to promote self-employment as a way out of unemployment by encouraging individuals to start their own business with money, up to a total weekly allowance of £1,274, and support from the state - hence the, ‘you’re not alone’, slogan - if they are recipients of certain benefits: Jobseeker’s Allowance; Income Support as a lone parent; or Employment and Support Allowance, if in the work-related activity group. Loans are also available; allowances needn’t be paid back. Applicants, who must be aged 18 or over, are assigned a specialist business mentor who will write a business plan; if the plan is approved and, if the applicant starts working at their business for 16 hours or more per week, they can claim financial support. By March 2014, the scheme had created around 2,000 new businesses each month, a total of around 46,000 since 2011.
Program Name:
English: Universal Credit

Website: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit
Established Year: 2013  
 
The Universal Credit aims to tackle, primarily, the dependency culture which has become a national crisis by ‘making work pay’. In order to do so, the program’s key mechanism means welfare support is withdrawn as the recipient’s earnings increase.  The Universal Credit’s simple structure integrates the benefits of Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credit, and Working Tax Credit; by unifying these forms of means-tested benefits available for people out of work, people more easily move into work. Proposed by Ian Duncan Smith of the Conservative Party, the Universal Credit is often considered neo-liberal in that it focuses on limiting welfare support and state dependency, rather than increasing employment, and it thus receives criticism.