Natasha Schofield, Associate Director of Education and Career Development at CIMSPA, reflects on how the sector is leading the way in helping to address one of the country’s biggest challenges: youth unemployment.
In the final few weeks of 2025, the UK government continued to set out its plans for skills and youth employment, with the promise of 50,000 new apprenticeships through a £725 million investment, coupled with expanded training and work experience opportunities for nearly a million young people, to tackle unemployment and create better routes into work.
For me, these announcements are important in that they represent more than a set of statistics. I see them as a statement of belief that every young person should have the chance to find meaningful, sustainable work and that the nation’s economy can only really succeed when all of its people do. However, as with all policy reforms like these, the real test lies not in the number of new placements or programmes created but in how many of those lead to long-term, fulfilling careers.
That’s where CIMSPA comes in, because by connecting government ambition with practical support and employer-led opportunities, we’re helping young people find their place in one of the UK’s most purpose-driven and people-centred sectors.
Let’s look at these latest announcements in a bit more depth.
The first announcement, made by the Department for Education, sets out plans for 50,000 more apprenticeships to help young people gain the skills and experience employers are looking for. It’s backed by a £725-million investment and the reforms set out include measures aimed to make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to take on apprentices, along with a focus on ensuring that training better reflects the needs of local economies. The aim is to strengthen the link between education and employment, giving young people a clear, supported route from school or college into work.
The second, from the Department for Work and Pensions, introduces a package of support expected to reach almost one million young people across England, Scotland and Wales. It includes plans for expanding access to training, work experience and employment programmes designed to help those young people who are currently unemployed or struggling to enter the job market. This investment, said to be around £820 million, is aiming to create closer connections and collaboration between Jobcentre Plus, employers and training providers to ensure that opportunities for young people are both meaningful and sustainable.
These announcements, if rolled out successfully, represent a significant step in the government’s effort to improve youth employment opportunities and address high levels of economic inactivity in young people. As a nation, we need to be giving every young person the chance to learn, develop and build a future regardless of their background or starting point.
This is essential because the cost of lost potential impacts all of us.
Despite years of investment and effort, youth unemployment remains a stubborn challenge, with over 940,000 young people in the UK currently not in education, employment or training. That’s 12.7% of all 16–24-year-olds, which is a figure we should all be startled by, not only because of the individual hardships it leads to, but because of the impact it has on society.
When a young person spends long periods out of work, the effects are very rarely confined to just them and their future. As their confidence and motivation erode, the skills and connections that they had developed previously fade. Add to that the fact that families often face increased financial and emotional pressure and communities lose the contribution and energy that young people engaged in positive, fulfilling activity often bring.
If we look over a period of time, the picture becomes even more worrying because prolonged periods of economic inactivity in early adulthood are closely linked to lower lifetime earnings, reduced career progression and damaged wellbeing. That means fewer people contributing fully to the economy and greater reliance on public support systems for finance, health and other services. The long-term result of this is a drag on national productivity and growth, which is a problem that compounds itself across generations. The impact is huge, and it has such long-term implications that in economic terms it is sometimes referred to as ‘scarring’.
It’s a reminder that the youth unemployment issue isn’t just about getting people into jobs, but helping them build lasting, rewarding careers.
It’s also a reminder about the power of purpose.
Which is why the sport and physical activity sector has such an important role to play in this policy. Let’s not be bashful – we are a sector that thrives on purpose through improving lives, building healthier communities and helping people reach their potential. Plus, we’re also a major employer in our own right, offering hundreds of thousands of roles across fitness, coaching, leisure management, active wellbeing, health promotion, education and much more.
For a young person starting out in the world of work, our sector offers something that’s often missing from a lot of entry-level work and that’s a clear sense of meaning. The skills that can be gained in our sector like teamwork, communication, leadership and empathy are valuable in every part of life. We also have something else which isn’t always available to young people taking on their first role – a professional framework that supports growth from the first day on the job to senior leadership roles.
Yet despite this, many of those helping young people to plan their future still don’t see our sector as a viable career option. However, over the past year that has been changing, thanks to the work we are doing as a sector to make the routes in clearer, more credible and more connected.
The key is turning opportunity into reality and that’s where our work with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) comes in.
CIMSPA’s partnership with the DWP is helping to turn national policy into practical opportunity. Through working together, we’re making sure that Jobcentre Plus work coaches and DWP advisers understand the full range of professional roles the sector offers.
Through the Sport and Physical Activity Employability Academy, we’re taking this a step further with a programme that supports individuals referred by DWP into tailored training and accredited learning that leads directly into employment. Crucially, those completing the programme achieve professional status, which is a recognised mark of quality that gives them credibility, and employers confidence, as they start their careers.
That recognition changes the game because instead of simply helping people into short-term or insecure jobs, it gives a foundation for a long-term career within a professional framework, making the difference between finding work – any work to fill a short-term need – and building a future with progression opportunities and professional development.
At the heart of this is making sector careers visible and accessible.
The Careers Hub is an excellent resource for those seeking to enter or progress within the sector because it brings together everything from job vacancy listings to practical guidance on training and progression routes. It acts as a connection between employers and individuals, helping people to explore their options, identify suitable training and make informed choices about their next steps.
Alongside it sits the Training Academy, which provides signposting to quality-assured, accredited courses aligned with the sector’s professional standards. These programmes are designed to meet the needs of both new entrants and those already working in the sector who want to upskill or specialise their skillset. Together, the Careers Hub and Training Academy form a comprehensive system of support, making it easier for people to enter, navigate and progress within the sport and physical activity workforce.
These resources are important for a young person just starting out, especially if it’s after time spent out of work or education, because the clarity and structure they provide shows that there are real careers in the sector available to them that are backed by professional standards and respected employers who offer long-term opportunities.
Underpinning this is connecting the dots between skills provision and local needs.
Through the Local Skills Project, funded by Sport England, we’ve worked with employers, local and combined authorities, and training providers to identify workforce needs region by region. That local insight means opportunities can be targeted where they’re needed most and training provision can reflect the realities of local job markets rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
In some areas, that might mean developing more roles in community wellbeing and active ageing, while in others, it could mean supporting growth in outdoor activity provision, fitness instruction or health-based interventions. Whatever the focus, the aim is to ensure that when young people are ready to work, there’s a clear and credible route into a real job that benefits both them and their community.
This evidence-driven approach has been integral to connecting jobseekers to opportunities as part of the DWP Sport and Physical Activity Employability Academy.
So, while there is much more to do as we enter 2026, our sector is well placed to lead as youth employment policy evolves.
The transition from education to work has never been more complex, and young people need pathways that are visible, supported and grounded in sectors that offer stability and purpose.
The sport and physical activity sector embodies all of those things. It delivers social value alongside economic value, improves wellbeing as it builds employability, and offers lifelong careers that grow with experience and commitment. Through our work and partnerships like the one with the DWP, young people are being given the tools, recognition and professional standing to take that first step and keep progressing.
If these reforms are to deliver lasting change, it will be because sectors like ours have made sure that policy reaches people and that opportunity turns into careers that last, with benefits that stretch well beyond individual success. My hope for this year is that through the changes that the government has set out, more young people and their families gain financial security, wellbeing improves, communities grow stronger and that our society reaps the reward of a generation empowered not just to be in work, but to have the strongest possible future.