Youth Employment Service
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The Youth Employment Service was a
British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
agency from the 1950s to the 1970s, aimed at school-leavers (teenagers).


History

From the late 1910s, many Local Education Authorities in England and Wales had set up Youth Employment Services, started by the Education (Choice of Employment) Act 1910, for up to the age of 17. Scotland had not been allowed to do this. The
Education Act 1918 The Education Act 1918 ( 8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. 39), often known as the Fisher Act, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was drawn up by H. A. L. Fisher. Herbert Lewis, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education, also played ...
allowed LEAs to guidance up to the age of 18. The
Unemployment Insurance Act 1923 Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work dur ...
allowed LEAs to cover juveniles in an unemployment insurance scheme. In 1927 the Ministry of Labour established the National Advisory Council for Juvenile Employment. The
Employment and Training Act 1948 The Employment and Training Act 1948 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 46) was an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a Bri ...
was passed by the Labour government of 1945-51, and section 10 of this act established and employment advisory service for all young people under 18 who attended school. By January 1949, 43 county councils and 73 county boroughs in England and Wales, and 3 town councils and 10 county councils in Scotland had submitted plans for their youth employment services. In the 1950s and 1960s, the service had great popular support. It would be replaced from the late 1970s onwards by the Careers Service.


Purpose

The organisation (also known as the Y.E.S.), set up in district and regional centres, provided vocational guidance for people aged around 16-17, many often from
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
s. Only the most academic would attend
university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
from the age of 18 in the 1950s, and many of those at grammar school would not stay until the age of 18. The
A-level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...
had been introduced in 1951, and previous to this it had been the Higher School Certificate; in Scotland it has been the Higher exam. In 1945 24% of those at grammar school left before the age of 16; by 1949 this had lowered to 16%. In 1945, 15% of those at grammar school would stay until the age of 18; by 1949, this was over 20%. By 1955, around 34% of those at grammar school stayed on until 18. In 1962, around 38% of boys found apprenticeships.


Structure

It was financed by the
Ministry of Labour A ministry of labour ('' UK''), or labor ('' US''), also known as a department of labour, or labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, and s ...
and local authorities. The total cost in the early 1950s of the service per year was around £1.7m. In a study from 1950-3, it was found that around 1.48m school-leavers had been given advice, and from that 1.357m had directly found employment. A Training Allowance Scheme had been introduced in 1947 for Youths when Training away from Home. Those working in the service were known as Youth Employment Officers; in later years, their function was largely taken over by careers advisory officers. The service was run by the Central Youth Employment Executive, composed of people from the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Education and the
Scottish Education Department The Scottish Government Education Directorates were a group of the civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional t ...
. In 1963 there were around 1,000 youth employment officers. Youth Employment Officers were trained at the Youth Employment Service Training Board. The service had eight activities * Contact with school - the service could request school reports for all children of the minimum (statutory) school leaving age. * Knowledge of opportunities available - from a working knowledge of local industries * Contact with potential school-leavers - to introduce children to the realities of going to work, and giving work-experience schemes * Training - to discuss what courses would be suitable for the appropriate career that had been chosen * Placing * Review of progress - if the youngster was later unhappy in the job they had chosen * Disabled children * Unemployment insurance and supplementary allowances


See also

*
Career Development Institute The Career Development Institute is the British professional association for career development. History It was founded in 1922. Previous to 1948, it was the Association of Juvenile Employment Officers, who worked in a Juvenile Employment Bureau. ...
, the former National Association of Youth Employment Officers, who worked at the service *
Central Advisory Council for Education Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
* National Youth Employment Council, set up by the act, and appointed by the Ministry of Labour three years at a time *
Youth Opportunities Programme The Youth Opportunities Programme was a UK government scheme for helping 16- to 18-year-olds into employment. It was introduced in 1978 under the Labour government of James Callaghan, was expanded in 1980 by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative govern ...
, established by a Labour government in 1978 *
Youth Training Scheme The Youth Training Scheme (YTS) was the name in the United Kingdom of an on-the-job training course for school leavers aged 16 and 17 and was managed by the Manpower Services Commission. The scheme was first outlined in the 1980 white paper ''A N ...
(YTS), established in 1983 by the Conservative government of
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
*
National Apprenticeship Service The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), part of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, is a government agency that coordinates apprenticeships in England, enabling young people to enter the skilled trades. History At the beginning of Febru ...


References

{{reflist * ''The Future Development of the Youth Employment Service'', 1965 1948 establishments in the United Kingdom Career advice services Career development in the United Kingdom Defunct departments of the Government of the United Kingdom Employment in the United Kingdom Youth employment