Impact Bond: Think Forward (Tomorrow's People)
Stage of development: Complete
Policy sector: Employment and training
Intervention: The IF pilot projects aim to prevent young people from becoming NEET, or support those already NEET to re-engage with education, training and employment. Interventions display a wide diversity in terms of participant age range, in and out of school provision and the balance between one to one and group work. Some programmes are built around participation on a structured programme or course. Despite these differences, there are also commonalities between projects including: time spent on initial marketing, recruitment and engagement; an intense initial process of working with each participant to achieve a positive shift in ‘mind-set’; a more extended period of personal and skills development and the encouragement of mental resilience in dealing with challenges and difficulties faced; and an ongoing process of goal setting and progression facilitation. Highly trained coaches in East London schools identify and support 14 to 17 year olds at risk of becoming NEET. Coaches provide a single point of contact for the young people for tailored, personal guidance and effective connections to employment opportunities (e.g. activities and links to training and to employers (in the City of London)). Delivered by progression managers in 10 schools and in community venues.
Start of service provision: 2012-04
Total investment commitment currency: GBP
Total investment commitment: 900000
Total investment commitment (USD): 1421695.413
Maximum potential outcome payment: 3200000 GBP
Maximum potential outcome payment (USD): 5054917.024
Target population: The 20% of school pupils in the Shoreditch area most at risk of becoming NEET.
Actual number of service users or beneficiaries engaged: 1000
Notes: Additional assessments: Qualitative assessments of early implementation (2014) and delivery in the final year of operation (2016) were carried out to identify, for project partners, the key issues that the pilot projects have encountered in their first years, as well as assess how effectively the pilots have operated after three years of delivery. Furthermore, impact evaluation was carried out using survey and administrative participant data against a matched sample of non-participants to determine the Social Return on Investment (2018).