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: Tackling the NEET youth crisis with empathy and open doors
Inspire and Achieve supports ~350 NEET young people every year in Nottinghamshire, helping them build confidence, develop skills, broaden their understanding of the opportunities around them and widening participation in education, employment and training. Thanks to evidence bases like ours feeding into the Milburn report, we now all know the scale of the NEET crisis unfolding here in the UK and the 1 in 6 statistic is beginning a movement we've been part of since 2009. Here in Nottinghamshire, IAF is a well used resource by families, colleges and local authority services to provide a bridge between potential and opportunity for NEET young people. We exist to inspire and empower them to achieve their best, regardless of their background, and do so with the belief that every young person has something unique and amazing to offer our world.
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Over the years, we have stood the test of time and have been supporting young people to make positive life choices, particularly where disadvantage or personal barriers might otherwise restrict their options. Our work aligns with local priorities for youth mental health, employment and skills and our youth hubs offer a working example of the national Youth Matters strategy and what can be achieved when services work together for young people's futures.
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In 2025-2026, it cost IAF approximately £850 per person to provide tailored support services and our strong theory of change meant 67% of our NEET young people went on to secure positive outcomes through EET destinations. Impetus, a leading youth charity uniting the NEET agenda in the UK, estimates that each of these NEET young people could hold an average lifetime cost to the state of £244,000 and in diverting them away from a prolonged benefit systems and other state funded services, we can build a clear case for investment in front-line services. In fact, applying even a highly conversative 5% attribution to IAF's output this year, shows our work represents more than £2.8 million in potential public value against our annual investment - that's equivalent to approximately £9.65 of potential economic value for every £1 invested in IAF's provisions.
For young people like Esther, IAF offers a chance to push outside their comfort zones and gain new life experiences that inspire their future careers. Esther, a former learner from our King's Trust Team programme and Talk mentee, shares her incredible journey from unemployment in Nottinghamshire to studying hard and applying for the President’s Scholarship for World Leaders Award in Canada.
: Social action projects
INVESTING IN YOUNG PEOPLE'S FUTURES & COMMUNITIES
We are passionate about supporting Nottinghamshire to become a healthy and prosperous place to live, work and study so many of our youth programmes encourage pride in place through social action projects and youth volunteering. Over the years, our young people have had a fantastic impact on the local area through these initiatives and have contributed over 5000 hours to improving local facilities and supporting others. We've built sensory gardens, accessible pathways, wildlife ponds and more; we're so proud of our community impact and the social value we've created by investing in young people's futures.
As a small team, we are immensely proud of what we achieve each year. By using our resources efficiently and strategically, IAF has become a critical part of the youth employability support system here in the East Midlands and with our growing footprint of youth hubs, we're excited to see what the future holds. Read more about our local impact and hear from the young people we work with in our latest impact report.
