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We are very excited to share our plans to introduce a database of employers for schools and colleges- launching academic year 26-27!

This will include a fully funded account for CareerThread from September 2026- July 2027. This will provide each school access to the Solent Career Hub database, where careers leaders will receive access to a range of employers who want to engage in careers outreach.

What is CareerThread?

This is a careers management platform that is centred around building and maintaining a network of valuable employers. Through CareerThread schools can create, track, and build activities that are mapped to a range of activity types and the Gatsby benchmarks.

By partnering with CareerThread we will be able provide every school and colleges with the following:

An events management platform

A Solent employer database

Access to live employer offers, activities, and opportunities

When employers sign up to the platform, they input the activity types they are interested in taking part in. This aims to help streamline employer engagement to map school need with employer capacity and support capacity.

How can CareerThread support careers leaders?

The platform is easy to use, intuitive, and comes with fantastic support from Tom and the CareerThread team. This platform aims to deliver on the following:

Reduce event and activity admin

Establish better employer connections

Support modern work experience

Help activity evaluation and mapping

If your school already uses another platform, system, or programme for events management CareerThread will not prevent you to continue using this. This platform is there to provide additional support and give access to the Solent Careers Hub database of employers.

Throughout the year, the careers hub and employers will also add activity, events, and offers to CareerThread. These opportunities will be sent directly to schools and colleges and allow the careers hub to streamline communications around ad-hoc activity throughout the year.

Attached are the CareerThread slides from our recent Solent Careers Conference, which provides and overview of the platform and a visual for schools. There is also a helpful 'School Information' guide for schools and colleges also.

What do you need to do?

There are no actions required from you until September 2026, when you will receive your invitation to join CareerThread. However, if for any reason you have questions or concerns, please get in touch with Chloe Bolton to discuss further.

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CareerThread Careers Hub School Information

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2 minute short videos exploring careers alongside other longer day in the life videos, Global LMI, Career Paths etc

Great tutor resource to engage learners in short bursts of career conversations.

I make videos about careers, business, economics and global affairs. I have four university degrees and I’ve worked in law and corporate consultancy before starting my own business. Now I run this channel, welcome!

Brand enquiries: maxklymenko@sixteenth.com Hope my videos help you!

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Hi, I’m Max! I run a creative business and make videos about brands, marketing and psychology. I have four university degrees in law, economics, business and sociology. I have also worked in law and corporate consultancy before starting my own agency. Brand enquiries: maxklymenko@sixteenth.com Hope my videos help you!

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Compass+ Help Centre – The Careers & Enterprise Company

This help centre includes support articles to help careers leaders when using Compass+.

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Careers statutory guidance: At a glance checklist and guide for school leaders.

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Get this resource

We do so in a number of ways including providing training to Careers Leaders in special schools, building our SEND Community of Practice and through our continued work with partners such as Talentino.

Tags

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Get this resource We do so in a number of ways including providing training to Careers Leaders in special schools, building our SEND Community of Practice and through our continued work with partners such as Talentino. Tags

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Careers statutory guidance: At a glance checklist and guide for college leaders.

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Webinars: register for Compass+ training – The Careers & Enterprise Company

The compass+ webinars and training schedule includes sessions on using FSQ and analysing data.

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This includes support articles for planning, preparing, and completing an Internal Leader Review.

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The features available in Compass+ support the continuous improvement of your careers provision. They each have a different role to play but when used together, can provide you with a rich picture of the progress and impact you are making towards effectively delivering your careers programme.

1. Compass evaluation - Monitor and track your performance against achieving the eight Gatsby Benchmarks

2. Careers Impact internal leadership review - Draw on data from all the evaluation mechanisms you use in your institution to help review the maturity of your careers provision.

Using these features effectively

The way you utilise the features within this digital product will need to align to your institution's careers strategy planning process and tie into your institution improvement cycle. Please refer to our recommended patterns of usage below:

1. Compass evaluation - Complete at the end of each term to record careers activity that has taken place aligned to the Gatsby Benchmarks

2. Careers Impact internal leadership review - Complete once a year at the point where strategic planning for future provision is taking place.

Getting support

It can be hard to know where to start to make the most of these features, but don't worry, there is a range of support available:

Contact your local Careers Hub - Discuss your strategic objectives and put a plan in place across the year to use each of these features at the most beneficial time to you.
Find your Careers Hub

Look on the Help Centre - All our digital products have bespoke Help Centres with a range of articles that clearly explain how to use key functionality effectively, you can also sign up for free training including webinars and self-paced learning.
Compass+ Help Centre

Explore our Resource Directory - Find resources to support with planning for impact and learn about the benefits of following the Careers Impact internal leadership review process.
Resource Directory

* Don't forget to use the yes/no down button below to let us know if you found this article helpful! *

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Planning for impact The features available in Compass+ support the continuous improvement of your careers provision. They each have a different role to play but when used together, can provide you ...

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This is a one page resource to support schools to understand the Future Skills Questionnaire Resource.

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Future Skills Questionnaire (FSQ) One-pager PDF - v3

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This checklist has been designed to support careers leaders to implement FSQ successfully.

Please use this resource and the linked resources to support you with completing FSQ with your students.

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Future Skills Questionnaire (FSQ) Checklist PDF - v2

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Activities – The Careers & Enterprise Company

Useful guidance on recording your activities within Compass+.

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Learner Data – The Careers & Enterprise Company

Useful guidance on learner data in compass+ and how to use the learner reporting functions.

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The CEC have put together a comprehensive overview of the Provider Access Legislation via their website.

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Everyone has a role to play in ensuring that young people, parents and carers are supported to develop the knowledge and understanding of all available routes at key transition points. Promoting all pathways enables young people to make informed and more confident decisions. The video below sparks a discussion as we ask ourselves:

Provider access legislation

The updated provider access legislation (PAL) has now been enacted. It specifies schools must provide at least six encounters with approved providers of apprenticeships and technical education for all their students:

Two encounters for pupils during the 'first key phase' (year 8 or 9) that are mandatory for all pupils to attend

Two encounters for pupils during the 'second key phase' (year 10 or 11) that are mandatory for all pupils to attend

Two encounters for pupils during the 'third key phase' (year 12 or 13) that are mandatory for the school to put on but optional for pupils to attend

This new legislation will become a key mechanism to further help learners understand and take-up, not just apprenticeships, but wider technical education options such as T-Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications.

At The Careers & Enterprise Company, we are keen to support schools and providers to meet and evidence this updated requirement meaningfully as part of wider progressive careers programmes.

I am an Education Leader...

If you are an Education Leader, you should arrange to meet with your Careers Leader to ensure they have all the support they need. You can also meet with your Enterprise Coordinator if required and your institution is in a Careers Hub. Read more about the statutory guidance related to careers.

I am a Careers Leader...

If you are a Careers Leader, you will see that we have added specific PAL questions to the Compass evaluation in the Educational Encounters Gatsby Benchmark 7 section. The answers to these questions do not contribute towards your score for Gatsby Benchmark 7, but they have been included in the evaluation to ensure progress with PAL is regularly monitored and support needs are managed effectively.

We are here to support you with key resources to understand why the legislation is important and how you can build on the great work already being done in your school, special school or college. You'll find information about how to deliver a meaningful provider encounter, and also how to upskill all staff to understand the different pathways.
Example provider access policy statement
Don't miss out on any communications regarding PAL by registering for the Careers Leader newsletter.

If your school is in a Hub, your Enterprise Coordinator will also be able to help signpost you to the most relevant information.

I am a Provider...

If you are a provider, you'll want to understand how you can continue to deliver meaningful encounters with students. We have a provider guide for planning meaningful encounters as well as a technical pathways guide created with AELP for you to access.
View resources
Careers Hubs are also able to support you with guidance on how best to access their schools through new and existing networks. In addition, a clear process will be available to help you identify and raise concerns about access.

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The updated provider access legislation (PAL) specifies schools must provide at least six encounters for all their students

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Resources and good practice of what PAL activity can look like in SEND settings.

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Schools should involve parents/carers, the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and other relevant staff to identify any barriers and support needed, and tailor each provider encounter appropriately and adapt the content and focus of encounters for these groups of learners to ensure that it is a realistic and meaningful experience for them.

Schools must co-operate with local authorities, who have an important role to play through their responsibilities for SEND support services, education, health and care plans and the promotion of participation in education and training. Statutory guidance on the SEND duties is provided in the 0-25 Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice.

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The Provider Access Legislation (PAL) in SEND Settings

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Schools should involve parents/carers, the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and other relevant staff to identify any barriers and support needed, and tailor each provider encounter appropriately and adapt the content and focus of encounters for these groups of learners to ensure that it is a realistic and meaningful experience for them.

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The CEC offer free training to all careers leaders, with a variety of course options to choose from.

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Fully funded, flexible training - designed to support the growth of Careers Leaders at all levels.

Our training courses provide a huge opportunity for you as a Careers Leader to accelerate your school, special school or college towards achieving the Gatsby Benchmarks.

Over 3,900 Careers Leaders have completed our fully funded, flexible training, and are using it to improve and  develop their careers programmes .

Whether you're experienced or new to the role, there's a training course to help you inspire young people to find their next best step.

The benefits

Careers Leader training comes at no cost to you or your institution

Bursary awarded on completion of face-to-face courses*

The training connects you with fellow Careers Leaders

Institutions with a trained Careers Leader make faster and more progress towards achieving the Gatsby Benchmarks

97% of Careers Leaders felt more confident in implementing strategic careers plans following the training

Read real-world testimonials from Careers Leaders who have undertaken the training through CEC, and our partner providers.

Get started in three simple steps:
Step 1: Choose a provider
Explore our training providers to decide which course and provider are right for you. Check out our comparison guide to find the right training provider for you.
Step 2: Register
Once you know which course and training provider you wish to enrol with you can register through our .
Step 3: Complete our Careers Leader induction
While you wait for your course to start, our free Careers Leader induction will give you the base level knowledge you need to hit the ground running with your funded training. You can find this course, and other online learning for Careers Leaders on The Careers & Enterprise Academy, the new online home of careers leadership.

Any questions?

If you have any queries that you can't find the answers to, you can book a short, informal call with one of our advisers or email us at: careersleaders@careersandenterprise.co.uk
*No bursary awarded for Distanced Learning course, all other courses £500.

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Our training courses help Careers Leaders understand their role and develop the skills required to strategically embed a careers programme in their school or college.

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This is a resource directory to support careers leaders and schools leaders to develop their provision in schools, colleges, alternative provisions, and SEND settings.

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This course is designed to support subject teachers in understanding the role they play in careers education and how they can, through their subject, support young people to make informed choices about their best next step and potential career pathway.

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Welcome to the CEC Resource Directory | CEC Resource Directory

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This course is designed to support subject teachers in understanding the role they play in careers education and how they can, through their subject, support young people to make informed choices about their best next step and potential career pathway.

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The following websites can support with local market information:

Prospects - Prospects | Job & Course Search | Career & University Advice

Career Pilot - Careerpilot : Jobs

National Careers Service - Explore careers | National Careers Service

NCS Video - https://youtu.be/oIlP0EhOLz8?feature=shared

Career Wave - LMI - CareerWave

LMI For All - Careerometer – LMI For All

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Preparing for Ofsted - Presentation Slides

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Talentino offer the following:

Free Careers Health Checks

Specialist SEND Careers programmes

Staff training – remote and on site

Specialist SEND Careers resources

Free annual CPD conference

Employer Diversity and Inclusion training

SEND Careers Advisers through our partners

SEND Education consultancy

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Talentino helps your special school, mainstream school, or FE College to deliver better careers guidance through our specialist SEND Careers programmes which:

Improve your Careers strategy and overall structure

Equip you with SEND specialist careers resources

Train your staff to be more confident delivering careers guidance to SEND students

Grow the number of employers working with you

Increase the number of Gatsby Benchmarks improving the range of destinations your students consider

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Talentino is a niche career development organisation working through Talentino Limited and our charity, the Talentino Foundation. Our mission is to enable young people to take advantage of our knowledge and experience.

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Work Experience Resources for SEND School

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Resources include; For employers SEND - How can an Employer Support a SEND School SEND School - Employer Work Experience Agreement Template Tips on Engaging with a Student with Special Needs SEND School - Employer Work Experience Risk Assessment Template For school staff

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Southampton:

Welcome to the SEND Local Offer website

Portsmouth:

Home < Portsmouth Local Offer

Isle of Wight:

SEND Local Offer

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This aims to help students compare every university course, every apprenticeship, and Further Education courses - then apply successfully.

They also aim to empower teachers and counselors to manage the progression process effectively.

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Everything you need, in one place.

Our platform helps students with the whole progression process - from exploring their interests, to recording the great things they've done, to finding education and training opportunities, to drafting their applications.

Unifrog also helps teachers and counselors to manage the process - from delivering engaging lessons using our off-the-shelf teaching resources, to tracking careers interactions, to drafting References, to submitting applications.
More about International schools More about UK schools + colleges

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We help students compare every opportunity, then apply successfully. We also empower teachers and counselors to manage the progression process effectively.

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This platform aims to help people understand their strengths and potential and guide them towards their best career, subject and future educational choices.

They aim to help schools and colleges deliver, manage and record their careers education programmes.

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"I was overwhelmed by the vast array of career interests across Year 10 students and struggled to keep on top of various admin tasks. Morrisby relieved that stress and provided a simple, straightforward, easy-to-use solution."

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Careers Advice & Guidance Online Platform - Morrisby

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The leading careers-matching service for schools, careers organisations and individuals, delivering psychometric results, careers guidance and study support.

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This is a digital learner profile platform built by teachers, empowering young people to showcase their full potential beyond exam grades, and connect with future career and education opportunities.

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#bridgethegap

meet globalbridge:

Find out how the platform works by watching the short video below.

"In the world of work post COVID, connectivity to young people looking to find pathways into employment will be key - and globalbridge have a solution ready to go for this."

find out more about globalbridge

We'd love to give you more information about how we can help you to meet your goals and connect you to a network of opportunity. Reach out to us via the button below - you can book a demo to see our platform in action, or just chat more about what globalbridge can offer. We're looking forward to hearing from you.

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globalbridge is a pioneering EdTech platform that connects young people & education with employers, apprenticeships and universities

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Measurable skill development across 8 capabilities that employers use to hire candidates.

Each student will create their own Human Skills Index, which maps across the following skill areas:

Commercial Awareness

Decision Making

Problem Solving

Financial Literacy

Adaptability

Data Analysis

Team Collaboration

Leadership

The cost of this platform is £795 per year group.

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You need whole-school careers provision that actually works, not another platform that creates more work.

Skills Hub Futures gives you zero-prep 45-minute sessions, automatic intervention alerts, and Ofsted-ready evidence portfolios. Every student gets a Human Skills Index you can report on.

Meets Gatsby Benchmarks 3 & 4, supports 5 & 6

Automated evidence generation

Individual student tracking

40+ hours saved annually

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Skills Hub Futures - Human Skills Index Platform - Enterprise Skills

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Every student gets a Human Skills Index. Measurable skill development across 8 capabilities. Zero-prep sessions. Automated Gatsby evidence. £795/year group.

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This platform provides a framework of essential skills that can unlock learning in the classroom, boosting academic outcomes, perseverance and self belief.

Skills Builder also have a resource hub that can be accessed via Search Skills Builder Hub

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Skills Builder Accelerator - Overview 2025-26

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LSIP: Solent Local Skills Improvement Plan

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LSIP: Solent Local Skills Improvement Plan

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The Hampshire Chamber of Commerce have been commissioned to identify the skills improvement in the local area.

This initial 2023 report can be found here:

Solent-Local-Skills-Improvement-Plan.pdf

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Provider Access Legislation guidance can be found on pages 42-49 of the document.

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Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on providing careers guidance.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

This statutory guidance is for:

governing bodies

school and college leaders

career leaders and staff in maintained schools

academies

free schools (including alternative provision academies and free schools)

colleges (that provide secondary education and post-16 education)

local authorities that maintain pupil referral units

It applies to:

all students in school from year 7 to year 13

all students in college up to and including the age of 18

students aged up to 25 with a current education, health and care plan in place

Statutory guidance is issued by law. You must follow it unless there is a good reason not to.

This guidance is part of the Skills for Jobs White Paper that sets out our vision to transform skills and training.

The Careers and Enterprise Company will provide external support to schools and colleges.

Thank you for your feedback

Report a problem with this page

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Careers guidance and access for education and training providers

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Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on providing careers guidance.

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LSIP Infographic - Health and Social Care

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LSIP Infographic - Health and Social Care

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Careers guidance and access for education and training providers.

This information was updated May 2025.

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Skip to main content

Cookies on GOV.UK

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We'd like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

Accept additional cookies Reject additional cookies View cookies

Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on providing careers guidance.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

This statutory guidance is for:

governing bodies

school and college leaders

career leaders and staff in maintained schools

academies

free schools (including alternative provision academies and free schools)

colleges (that provide secondary education and post-16 education)

local authorities that maintain pupil referral units

It applies to:

all students in school from year 7 to year 13

all students in college up to and including the age of 18

students aged up to 25 with a current education, health and care plan in place

Statutory guidance is issued by law. You must follow it unless there is a good reason not to.

This guidance is part of the Skills for Jobs White Paper that sets out our vision to transform skills and training.

The Careers and Enterprise Company will provide external support to schools and colleges.

Thank you for your feedback

Report a problem with this page

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Careers guidance and access for education and training providers

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Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on providing careers guidance.

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Modern work experience should guarantee every young person access to high-quality, multiple workplace experiences, totaling ten days' worth throughout secondary education.

This webpage provides an overview of the changes to work experience and how this will impact schools and colleges.

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Modern work experience should guarantee every young person access to high-quality, multiple workplace experiences, totaling ten days' worth throughout secondary education.

This equitable approach will facilitate a variety of experiences starting early, connecting education and young people with industry and unlocking the skills and opportunities of the future workforce.

High quality work experience helps young people get ready for the world of work and when integrated into a structured careers programme - as defined by the Gatsby Benchmarks, work experience:

What is the value of modern work experience?

Modern work experience will help young people to make informed choices and improve career readiness and employability by offering multiple, variable and targeted experiences throughout their education journey.

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Modern work experience should guarantee every young person access to high-quality, multiple workplace experiences, totaling ten days' worth throughout secondary education. The solution: equalex.

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Presentation slides provided by Nicola Hall - Careers and Enterprise Company. Nicola was a keynote speaker at the Workplace Experience Conference.

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Reimagining work experience - setting the scene - Solent 

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Maritime: The Making of a UK Merchant Navy Cadet

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Maritime: The Making of a UK Merchant Navy Cadet

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A Sea of Opportunities: The Making of a UK Merchant Navy Cadet

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Work Placement Software Complete software for managing your work-based learning programmeRealise the full potential of your Work Experience, Industry Placement or T-Level programmeoftware

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Why Grofar Work Placement Software?

We have worked in close partnership with our customers to develop the market leading work placement solution for work experience, industry placement and T-Level delivery.

Our work placement platform empowers colleges, schools and work placement providers, such as EBP's, to deliver world class work-based learning programmes.

What sets Grofar apart is our comprehensive support for our customers and commitment to working closely with our community to continually improve our software and product offering. Joining the Grofar community will provide you with access to exclusive work placement webinars, best practice events, and work placement delivery experts - don't just take our word for it, speak to any of our customers about their experience of joining the Grofar work placement community.

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Grofar produce award winning Careers, Work Placement and Work Experience software for schools, colleges, & learning providers

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Several different packages offered to schools including a careers newsletter which has LMI.

Our newsletter is completely branded as your school. It's impartial and includes LMI so can form part of your Gatsby Benchmark evidence.

The Careers Newsletter is a collation of information from employers and universities across the UK. As well as including opportunities from these organisations, it also has a weekly “job of the week”, Labour Market Information Fact, Employer Spotlight and Uni Spotlight.

Each feature aims to expand young people’s knowledge of the careers landscape, LMI and HE.

​

The newsletter costs £200 per academic year, that's £5.12 per week. Less than the time it would take you to make it. We think this is what is known as a "no brainer"!

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Post 16 Education and Skills White Paper

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Post 16 Education and Skills White Paper

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Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Education, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology by Command of His Majesty October 2025

Page 24 – NEET Support

Page 25 – Tracking

Page 27 – Careers Guidance

Page 28 – Two weeks’ work experience to secondary students

Page 36 – V levels

Page 37 – GCSE Level 1 Qualification

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Luminate - The home of student and graduate labour market information from Prospects

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Prospects Luminate brings you data and insights into the graduate labour market. Inform your recruitment campaigns and get the inside track on student and graduate behaviour with analysis from across the HE sector.

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High Fliers -

This extensive student research is used to compile The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, the popular and widely-used guide to the UK’s most sought-after and prestigious graduate employers.

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For more than 25 years, High Fliers Research has been at the forefront of graduate recruitment research at the UK's leading universities and has worked with over 150 major national & international employers to review, assess and develop their campus-led recruitment strategies.

The UK Graduate Careers Survey is the largest and most authoritative annual survey of final year students at the UK's thirty leading universities. Based on interviews with up to 20,000 finalists and on-campus research groups with student jobs hunters, the research programme is conducted by High Fliers Research on behalf of more than sixty top graduate employers, in association with The Times newspaper.

The survey gives participating employers an exclusive insight into the career expectations and aspirations of final year students - just weeks before they leave university - and identifies the recruitment promotions, events and resources that students use during their search for a graduate job.

Research from the survey includes in-depth analysis of diversity & inclusion, reports on graduate recruitment at individual universities, and how to attract and recruit STEM graduates.

The research programme also assesses the impact of individual employers' graduate recruitment marketing campaigns and each organisation taking part in the programme has the opportunity to commission its own questions within the survey.

To see how your organisation could access the very latest student research, please contact
Sally Hyman for The UK Graduate Careers Survey and Zoe Gordon for The Law Student Survey.

This extensive student research is used to compile The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, the annual guide to the UK's most sought-after and prestigious graduate employers that High Fliers Research has produced since 1999.

With the graduate job market now recovering from the pandemic, the employers featured in the new edition of the Top 100 website for 2021-2022 and the digital & print editions of the Top 100 directory have over 24,000 graduate vacancies available for 2022.

To find out how your organisation could feature in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, please contact Gill Thomas.

In addition to its student research, High Fliers Research regularly researches the number of graduate vacancies and starting salaries available at the organisations featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, as well as assessing the latest recruitment marketing and assessment & selection processes used by the UK's leading graduate recruiters.

Its new report, published in January 2021, on The Graduate Market in 2021 confirmed that employers reduced their graduate recruitment by 15% during the Coronavirus crisis in 2020 and that applications for graduate vacancies in 2021 had jumped by more than 40% year-on-year.

Research from The UK Graduate Careers Survey is also used to compile The Times Graduate Recruitment Awards that High Fliers Research hosts and presents annually, celebrating the UK's most successful and accomplished graduate recruiters. The continuing Coronavirus restrictions meant that the winners of the 2021 awards were announced during a special live broadcast to graduate recruiters on Wednesday 31st March 2021.

For more information about The Times Graduate Recruitment Awards and the other events that High Fliers Research hosts during the year for graduate employers, please contact Carla Smith.

The High Fliers Research Centre is in The Gridiron Building, 1 Pancras Square, London, N1C 4AG.
Our telephone number is 020 7428 9000 and a location map is available here.

For media enquiries, please contact Martin Birchall and for general enquiries email surveys@highfliers.co.uk

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High Fliers Research is an independent market research company which specialises in student and graduate recruitment research. The UK Graduate Careers Survey is based on face-to-face interviews with over 16,000 final year students studying at 30 leading universities in the UK.

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Labour Market Outlook | CIPD - The CIPD’s quarterly Labour Market Outlook is one of the most authoritative employment indicators in the UK and provides forward-looking labour market data and analysis on employers’ recruitment, redundancy and pay intentions.

The LMO is published every February, May, August and November. Its insights help HR professionals and employers anticipate labour market movements and to adjust and prepare accordingly. It also feeds into our consultations and engagement with the UK Government and policy-makers.

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Labour Market Outlook report

Winter 2023-24 overview

This quarter, we see the tide turning on pay. For over a year, expected basic pay awards for the upcoming 12 months have been at 5%. This quarter, they have fallen to 4%, matching the level of CPI inflation reported in the 12 months to December 2023.

Decreasing staff levels is higher on the agenda in 2024, in response to the higher wage costs experienced over the past couple of years. This is evident in both the public and private sector.

Labour market tightness is meanwhile reducing. Our data show there will be further easing in the coming months, as fewer employers are expecting significant problems filling vacancies going forward.

Read on for our latest labour market data and analysis on employers' recruitment, redundancy and pay intentions this winter.

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Read our latest Labour Market Outlook report for analysis on employers' recruitment, redundancy and pay intentions this winter

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Publications | Edge Foundation - We are the independent foundation working to inspire the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work.

We believe in a broad and balanced curriculum, interactive and engaging real world learning, high quality technical and professional training and rich relationships between education and employers.

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UK unemployment tracker | Centre for Cities

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UK unemployment tracker | Centre for Cities

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UK unemployment tracker | Centre for Cities - How has the labour market recovered from the COVID-19 shock after three years?

Centre for Cities tracks the latest unemployment claim statistics across the UK's cities and largest towns.

Data dashboard last updated on 21 Sep 2023

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UK unemployment tracker - Centre for Cities

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Centre for Cities tracks the latest unemployment claim statistics across the UK’s cities and largest towns. Centre for Cities tracks the latest unemployment claim statistics across the UK’s cities and largest towns.

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Which skills are employers seeking in your area? - Office for National Statistics

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Which skills are employers seeking in your area? - Office for National Statistics

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Which skills are employers seeking in your area? - Office for National Statistics - Explore which jobs are advertised the most in your UK local authority area, and how many local residents have the relevant skills to fill them

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Care workers were the most commonly advertised occupation in the UK in April to June 2024

After peaking in December 2021, UK job advert volumes have been gradually declining, and are now similar to pre-pandemic levels at 3.4 adverts per 100 working-age people in August 2024.

Across the UK, the most commonly advertised jobs in Quarter 2 (April to June) 2024 were:

Care workers and home carers, making up 2.3% of all adverts (around 33,700 adverts)

Sales accounts and business development managers (2.0%, or around 29,600 adverts)

Book-keepers, payroll managers and wages clerks (1.7%, or around 25,200 adverts)

You can explore where these jobs were advertised most often in the map below.

Select one of the 10 most commonly advertised occupations in the UK in Quarter 2 2024, and see the proportion of adverts in each local authority that were for that occupation.

Where are the UK's most advertised occupations the most common?

Proportion of all adverts in local authority that were for the selected occupation, UK, April to June 2024
Download the data for proportion of most-advertised occupations by local authority [XLSX, 126KB]
While adverts for care workers made up 2.3% of all online adverts in the UK in Quarter 2 2024, in Broadland in Norfolk, they made up almost 1 in 10 live online adverts (9.8%). This was the highest of any UK local authority.

Areas where care worker jobs made up the highest proportion of online adverts tended to be areas with older populations: in Broadland, Causeway Coast and Glens in Northern Ireland, and in Wyre in North West England, there are more people aged 65 and over than the UK average.

We can also explore how the number of adverts for a given occupation has changed over the last year.

While care workers and home carers, along with programmers and software developers, were among the most commonly advertised occupations in the UK, they also saw some of the biggest declines in adverts over the last year.

The number of care worker and home carer adverts fell 23% between Quarter 2 2023 and Quarter 2 2024, or by more than 10,000 adverts.

Adverts for programmers and software developers declined the most of any occupation in the year to Quarter 2 2024, falling by 49%, or over 23,000 adverts.

Meanwhile, adverts for heavy and large goods vehicle (HGV) drivers almost doubled in the year to Quarter 2 2024, rising 99% (equal to nearly 6000 more live adverts).

Adverts for HGV drivers almost doubled in the year to Quarter 2 2024

Annual change between April to June 2023 to April to June 2024, Occupations with the largest increase in share of online advert volumes, UK
Download the data for occupations with the largest percentage change in online advert volumes [XSLX, 1KB]
You can find the shares of adverts for all occupations for all local authorities in the associated data tables.

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Which skills are employers seeking in your area? - Office for National Statistics

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Explore which jobs are advertised the most in your local authority area, and how many local residents have the relevant skills to fill them

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Labour Market Profile - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics

 

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Labour Market Profile - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics

 

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Labour Market Profile - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics

The profile brings together data from several sources. Details about these and related terminology are given in the definitions section.

All figures are the most recent available.

Resident population

Employment and unemployment

Economic inactivity

Workless households

Employment by occupation

Qualifications

Earnings by place of residence

Out-of-work benefits

Jobs (total jobs / employee jobs)

Businesses

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Labour Market Profile - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics

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nomis - official labour market statistics

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The JOB OF THE WEEK resource offers LMI about a new job each week. All of the previously posted jobs can be accessed by clicking the button below:

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Job Of The Week | MYPATH Careers Resources

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The JOB OF THE WEEK resource offers LMI about a new job each week. All of the previously posted jobs can be accessed by clicking the job title below:

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This video explains the equalex approach, which is currently being piloted by schools and colleges nationally.

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The Solent Careers Hub have included this list as an impartial resource to support careers leaders to better understand the platforms available.

Many of the platforms are a paid for subscription that would have a cost to the school or college. Please check the website or contact a provider directly for this information.

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This provides an overview of the Internal Leadership Review process to help better understand the purpose and benefits.

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Careers Impact internal leadership review | CEC Resource Directory

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Careers Impact internal leadership review A new approach to driving impact across careers education. Read more about internal leadership reviews below or get started in Compass or Compass+ now.

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Future Skills Questionnaire – The Careers & Enterprise Company

This provides articles and support to create FSQ links and how to make the most of this resource.

Future Skills Questionnaire | CEC Resource Directory

This resource links directly to various articles included within the help desk- including SEND.