Employability Support for Young Adults Aged 19-24
The Government's Young People and Work report confirmed what we have known since 2014
Foe young adults who are NEET or struggling to enter the workforce, confidence is the missing layer, not qualifications. Most existing provision either ends at 18 or groups 19-24 year olds into general adult programmes not designed for them. Digital Gum fills that gap with a confidence-first, in-person employability programme that addresses the real barriers, anxiety, social disconnection, lost routine, and the absence of the informal work experience that previous generations took for granted.
The Problem With Current Provision
Young adults aged 19-24 who are NEET sit at a difficult intersection. School-based support has ended. Youth services typically finish at 18 or 19. Standard adult employment programmes are not designed for people who have never held a job or are navigating significant anxiety.
The Government's report identified these barriers directly:
Rising anxiety and low self-belief following Covid-era social disruption
The near-disappearance of Saturday jobs and casual work that previously built workplace social confidence
Highly formalised recruitment processes that discourage young people before they apply
Employers reporting low work readiness — specifically communication, resilience, teamwork, and handling feedback
Generic online courses with high dropout rates that reinforce failure rather than building confidence
A CV workshop does not address any of these things.
What Our Programme Does Differently
Our 5-week in-person programme is not an employability programme in the traditional sense. It is a confidence programme that uses digital skills as the vehicle.
Participants work in small groups — maximum 12 — on a real project for a local charity. They have to show up, meet deadlines, work with people they didn't choose, take feedback from an external stakeholder, and deliver something that matters to someone else. By the time they finish, they have done all the things employers say young people can't do — in a safe environment where failure is expected and recovery is normal.
By programme end, participants have:
Rebuilt a sense of routine and structure
Experienced genuine belonging within a peer group
Completed a real piece of work for an external stakeholder
Developed demonstrable digital literacy, teamwork, and communication skills
Practised interview scenarios with real confidence rather than scripted answers
Proved to themselves that they can do it
Why In-Person Matters for This Cohort
For young adults whose confidence has been eroded by isolation or setbacks, online delivery does not work. It removes the very things the programme is designed to build: routine, social connection, accountability to others, and the social proof of being in a room with peers who are in the same position and succeeding.
Digital Gum removed remote delivery from all programmes. It is not a cost decision or a preference — it is an evidence decision.
Who This Programme Is For
This programme is for adults aged 19 to 24 who are:
NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training)
Recently unemployed or struggling to find a first job
Experiencing anxiety or low confidence related to work
Socially isolated or lacking peer networks that support job searching
Eligible for referral through Jobcentre Plus, Connect to Work, or local authority employment support
This programme is not suitable for those under 19.
Commissioning This Programme
Funding frameworks:
Connect to Work (DWP)
Adult Skills Fund
Youth Guarantee commissioning
Local authority employment support budgets
Combined authority skills funds
We can configure this as a standalone young adult cohort or as a dedicated stream within a broader employability programme.
