Sometimes you read a news story and immediately think: this makes sense.
On 26 September 2026, the Government announced plans to support the training and employment of 1,000 new youth workers across England. The first workers are expected to be in place from spring 2027, working within communities and through outreach, particularly with vulnerable young people and those at risk of becoming NEET, meaning not in education, employment or training. GOV.UK
But what caught my attention wasn’t simply the number 1,000.
It was the thinking behind it.
The Government talks about young people having access to trusted adults, supportive environments and people who can work alongside education, employment, health and other services. It also talks about rebuilding face-to-face youth services after years in which many young people have increasingly relied on online interaction rather than real-world communities and relationships. GOV.UK
That sits very close to what we’re trying to create through IM MORE.
Because getting somebody into employment isn’t always just about finding them a vacancy.
Sometimes there is a human journey that has to happen first.
Someone may need confidence.
They may need somebody to listen.
They may need to learn how to communicate.
They may need to understand what they’re good at.
They may need someone beside them who understands what it feels like to be uncertain about their future.
And sometimes they simply need to believe that there is actually a future available to them.
That’s where I believe youth workers and, particularly, younger peer mentors could become incredibly powerful.
I can sit down with a young adult and talk about unemployment, confidence, careers, business and opportunity. I’ve spent decades working with people and helping them move from one place to another.
But I also recognise something very important.
There are conversations a 20-year-old can have with another 20-year-old that will sometimes be different from the conversation they have with me.
They may use different language. They may share similar experiences. They may understand the pressures of social media, relationships, unemployment, anxiety about the future and the feeling of watching everyone else apparently move forward while they feel as though they’re standing still.
That doesn’t mean replacing experience with youth.
I think the answer is bringing the two together.
Experienced people who can provide knowledge, leadership, structure and opportunity, working alongside younger people who can provide relatability, lived experience and another kind of understanding.
That combination could be incredibly powerful.
Why this matters to IM MORE
We are still at the beginning of the IM MORE journey.
I don’t pretend that we’ve got everything worked out. In many ways, that is part of what makes building this organisation so interesting.
We’re learning.
We’re listening.
We’re employing young people.
We’re seeing first-hand what happens when somebody is given responsibility, support and the opportunity to discover abilities they may not previously have recognised in themselves.
And increasingly I can see a future where youth workers and peer mentors become part of what IM MORE does.
Imagine somebody who has experienced unemployment themselves, perhaps lacked confidence, perhaps struggled to work out what they wanted to do, and then successfully moved through that period of their life.
Now imagine that same person sitting beside somebody who is where they used to be.
The conversation changes.
They aren’t saying:
“I’ve read about what you’re experiencing.”
They’re saying:
“I’ve been there.”
And perhaps even more importantly:
“This is how I started moving forward.”
There is enormous power in that.
The Government’s announcement talks about creating access to trusted adults for hundreds of thousands more young people by 2035. It forms part of the wider National Youth Strategy and sits alongside the £450 million Youth Matters Fund, which is intended to improve youth facilities and increase access to activities and youth work. GOV.UK
I welcome that investment.
But money and programmes alone will never create transformation.
People do.
The buildings matter.
The programmes matter.
The funding matters.
The training matters.
But eventually somebody has to sit opposite another human being and make a connection.
Somebody has to notice that they have become quieter.
Somebody has to recognise that their confidence has disappeared.
Somebody has to ask the second question when the first answer is, “I’m fine.”
And somebody has to be there when that young person finally says:
“Actually, I’m not.”
That’s youth work.
That’s mentoring.
That’s human connection.
And increasingly, I think that’s part of what IM MORE needs to become.
Employment is only part of the answer
There is clearly a major national challenge around youth employment.
The Government’s wider Jobs Guarantee is designed to provide eligible 18 to 24-year-olds who have experienced long-term unemployment with six months of fully funded employment, alongside personalised support. The programme is expected to support more than 90,000 young people over three years. GOV.UK
Importantly for us, Hertfordshire and Essex has been one of the first areas involved, with Reed in Partnership selected as the Government’s Phase One delivery partner. GOV.UK
Essex also has its own challenges. Essex County Council reports that the proportion of 16 and 17-year-olds classified as NEET increased from 3.7% in 2019 to 6.5% in 2025, above the England figure of 5.6%. Essex County Council
So this isn’t an abstract national problem somewhere else.
It’s happening around us.
There are young people in Chelmsford, Basildon, Braintree, Southend, Grays and communities throughout Essex wondering what they’re going to do with their lives.
Some will need employment.
Some will need education.
Some will need training.
Some will need specialist support.
And some may initially need nothing more complicated than somebody they trust sitting down and listening to them.
Could today’s young person become tomorrow’s youth worker?
This is the part I find particularly exciting.
Instead of seeing somebody who is unemployed simply as somebody who needs help, what happens if we start asking what they could eventually contribute?
Could a young person coming through IM MORE today become a mentor tomorrow?
Could they eventually train as a youth worker?
Could somebody who lacked confidence eventually become the person who helps somebody else discover theirs?
Could the person receiving support eventually become the person providing it?
For me, that is where transformation becomes sustainable.
It stops being something we do to people.
It becomes something people begin doing for each other.
That is an idea I would like us to explore seriously within IM MORE.
Not every young person will want to become a youth worker, nor should they.
But some will.
Some will discover that their own difficult experiences have given them an extraordinary ability to understand somebody else.
And with the right professional training, safeguarding, boundaries and support, that lived experience could become an asset rather than something they feel they need to hide.
We need collaboration, not another silo
I also don’t believe organisations like IM MORE should attempt to do everything themselves.
There are already excellent organisations, councils, employers, youth services, Jobcentres, charities and employment providers doing important work.
Essex Youth Service, for example, already provides careers, employment and training support to young people who are not in education, employment or training. Essex Youth Service
The opportunity is to connect the dots.
Government.
Local authorities.
Youth services.
Employment providers.
Employers.
Community organisations.
Charities.
And most importantly, young people themselves.
The Government’s own model recognises this. The new youth workers are expected to collaborate across education and training, health and crime prevention rather than operating independently. GOV.UK
I think that’s exactly right.
Because the young person doesn’t care which organisation’s logo is above the door.
They care whether somebody can help them.
Where IM MORE goes from here
I don’t yet know exactly where this takes us.
And I’m comfortable saying that.
IM MORE itself is developing.
Our team is developing.
Our understanding is developing.
But the more young people we work alongside, the more convinced I become that employment is only one part of the equation.
We need opportunity, but we also need belonging.
We need jobs, but we also need confidence.
We need training, but we also need human connection.
And we need young people themselves to have a voice in designing what comes next.
Perhaps some of the people currently being supported will ultimately become the people doing the supporting.
I would love to see that happen at IM MORE.
Because if somebody can travel from needing help themselves to becoming the person who reaches back and helps the next person forward, then we have achieved something much bigger than getting somebody into a job.
We have created transformation.
And that is what IM MORE has always been about.
Bradley Chapman
Founder, IM MORE CIC
For more information about the Government announcement, read the original GOV.UK announcement on 1,000 new youth workers.
You can also explore the Government Jobs Guarantee programme and Essex Youth Service employment, education and training support.
Find out more about IM MORE at IM MORE.org
