Issues and solutionsThe Prince's Trust's exists to help young people overcome their barriers and develop their skills, confidence and motivation.
The difficulties many young people face are complex and interconnected, requiring a similarly complex combination of assessment, advice, personal development, education, training, work and financial help.
In the UK, a startling number of young people face significant barriers in life:
- one in twenty complete their school years but gain no qualifications at all
- more have low basic skills and struggle to read or write
- one-third of young men have a criminal record by their 30th birthday
- 8% of young people are unemployed
We have four key target groups, each of whom are over-represented in indices of disadvantage:
Unemployed young people
There is a wealth of research indicating that lower educational attainment and lack of formal qualifications equate to lower likelihood of securing full-time employment.
Young people underachieving in education
5.4% of 15 year olds in England leave school with no qualifications and nearly 25% have fewer than five GCSEs. Read about the underlying factors.
To combat school-related challenges such as truancy, exclusions and poor performance, we run over 800 xl clubs in schools across the UK.
Young people leaving care
Approximately 8,000 careleavers a year enter society more vulnerable than most. They are more likely to have no qualifications or low basic skills, or be unemployed or homeless. Read about the issues they face.
The Prince's Trust provides Mentoring for Careleavers. Through 32 partners in the UK, we provide mentors for young people leaving care, to help with decisions and directions, lend a listening ear and regular support.
Young offenders and ex-offenders
According to a Home Office survey, 3.95% of the 16-25 population have offended.
The Prince's Trust does not run programmes exclusively for young offenders and ex-offenders, but we recognise the strength of our programmes to help them break their offending cycle and fulfil their personal aspirations. Last year we helped 1,700 of them through our programmes.
Our Team programme helps young people with few or no qualifications to build skills, confidence and find employment through a network of delivery partners. Sound Live course use young people’s interest in music to help them move forward.
To assist young people trying to move into a job, training or education - but lacking the money to do so - we provide Development Awards.
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