Youth engagement | City & Guilds Foundation

Modern Work Experience: Creating Fair and Future-Ready Opportunities for Every Young Person

by Lauren Roberts | 5 Dec 2025 | Campaigning, News, News & events, Youth engagement

Work experience isn’t what it used to be and that’s a good thing. The UK is on the cusp of a real shift in how young people engage with the world of work, moving from a box-ticking placement to a modern, structured, and equitable programme. But ambition alone won’t fix what’s broken. The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) is leading a push for Modern Work Experience, a reimagined model that promises every young person 2 weeks (10 days) worth of workplace exposure across their secondary...

Transforming access to STEM with EngineeringUK

by Lauren Roberts | 14 Nov 2025 | Campaigning, Charity partners, Funding, News, News & events, Our networks, Youth engagement

We’re proud to announce a groundbreaking five-year partnership with EngineeringUK aimed at improving access to high-quality STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) experiences for secondary school students across the UK. This initiative represents a significant investment in the future workforce and a commitment to tackling the persistent skills gap in engineering and technology. Why this work matters and what we’re doing STEM careers are critical to the UK economy, yet many young...

City & Guilds launches new Commission to tackle surge in youth unemployment

by Laura Mountain | 24 Mar 2025 | Funding, News, Transitions Commission, Youth engagement

City & Guilds commit £500,000 in funding to target local challenges in areas of deprivation and economic inactivity in the UK New Transitions Commission announced to support more young people into Further Education 1 million young people are not in education, employment or training, the highest level for more than a decade City & Guilds Foundation have established a new commission to address the high volume of youth unemployment in the UK. The Transitions...

Foundation & Friends podcast: Championing Investment into Early Talent

by Natasha Kalinga | 23 Apr 2024 | Awards alumni, Awareness Raising, Foundation Collective, News, Podcasts, Princess Royal Training Awards, Youth engagement

A successful early talent strategy and strong learning culture can help organisations to attract, engage and retain early career employees, leading to a more productive workforce and a thriving future for your organisation. To explore this topic, host Manuel Thompson-Ọ́lọ́kọ̀, Early Talent and Apprenticeships Partner at City & Guilds, is joined by Lesley Bamber, Early Careers UK & I Lead at award-winning firm WTW, who shares his proven strategies for developing young talent and...

Improving young refugees’ educational outcomes through our partnership with the Positive Youth Foundation

by Polly Rowe | 29 Jan 2024 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, News, News & events, Refugee support, Youth engagement

At the City & Guilds Foundation we’re passionate about advocating for, and supporting, people who face barriers to accessing skills development. Two years ago, we looked at supporting refugees as a beneficiary group – and have supported a number of different grass root charities in the UK who are making a quantifiable impact on many lives within refugee and migrant communities. One such organisation that we are proud to support is the Positive Youth Foundation (PYF) based in Coventry....

Seeing first hand the difference that our funding is making

by Mike Ormand | 31 May 2023 | Charity partners, News, News & events, Our networks, Refugee support, Social Impact, Youth engagement

This is a guest post by Dick Palmer, Chair of City & Guilds Foundation and City & Guilds Group Trustee Being Chair of the City & Guilds Foundation is one of the jobs I am most proud of and privileged to undertake. There is so much social need in the world and so many people deserving of our support, so it’s a pleasure to be able to be a tiny part of making a difference – particularly in combating key societal issues through the work that is happening across the Foundation. Whilst...

Supporting young carers in employment

by Lauren Roberts | 15 Mar 2023 | Awareness Raising, Campaigning, Charity partners, Events, Lived Experience, News, Youth engagement

Young carers provide unpaid care and support to family members or friends who have a disability, illness, mental health condition, or substance misuse problem. According to our partners the Carers Trust there were 177,918 young carers in England and Wales at the last census and additionally there are 29,000 young carers in Scotland. However, this is widely believed to be the tip of the iceberg, with some estimates suggesting that as many as one in five schoolchildren are young carers...

Gower College update: £100k project to support at risk young people into secure employment funded by the City & Guilds Foundation

by Stuart Tucker | 12 Jan 2023 | Critical transition points, Funding, News, Our networks, Youth engagement

In this video, Gower College Swansea gives an update on the progress of our strategic partnership to support learners at risk of dropping out of education, overcome barriers and find positive ways to gain skills and enduring work. The funding is aiming to put up to 200 young people through a Transition & Engagement support programme, designed to raise aspirations and help disadvantaged and disengaged learners to develop and enhance existing skills to prepare them for the world of work. You...

Reflecting on our achievements in 2022

by Justine Procter | 14 Dec 2022 | Bursaries, Charity partners, City & Guilds initiatives, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Funding, Lived Experience, News, Our networks, Princess Royal Training Awards, Prisoners and ex-offenders, Refugee support, Resources, Responsible Business, Social Impact, Youth engagement

As the end of 2022 fast approaches, the team at the City & Guilds Foundation took some time to reflect and share their top highlights and achievements from the last year and moments to be proud of. Laura Mountain “Thinking about what we’ve collectively achieved over the past year, it is really incredible and just goes to show what you can do with brilliant, passionate people who constantly pull together – and challenge each other – to do the best they can. A particular highlight for me has...

City & Guilds Foundation & The WOW Show release new wellbeing resources for students

by Lauren Roberts | 12 Sep 2022 | Awareness Raising, Charity partners, Funding, News, Resources, Youth engagement

With the new school year in full swing and student wellbeing a priority, the City & Guilds Foundation have teamed up with The WOW Show and partners Votes for Schools to launch an exciting new film and classroom resources to help young people build self-confidence. The animated film - The skills you didn’t know you had! - features a cast of near-peer characters in everyday situations underlining messages about the skills that are inside us all – if only we recognise them: Resilience,...