Partnerships & Sectors
First Rung.
The government's own review says the first rung of the career ladder has thinned. We named our programme after that diagnosis and built it to help put the rung back: for employers, for anchor institutions and for the young people caught in between.
“The first rung of the career ladder has thinned. For too many young people it is now simply out of reach.”
— Alan Milburn, Independent review into youth unemployment, 2026
The problem
young people aged 16–24 in the UK were NEET in January to March 2026 — passing one million for the first time in over a decade. Source: ONS.
of 16–24 year-olds are NEET, up for the third quarter running
of NEET young people want a job or training
is where the number could reach within five years without reform — Milburn review
The jobs exist. The funding exists. The young people exist. For every £1 spent on youth employment support, £25 is spent on benefits after the fact. First Rung connects all three before it comes to that: reducing friction, increasing opportunity and putting structure under optimism.
The difference
Demand-led, not supply-led.
Youth unemployment is a systemic problem that has outlasted decades of well-intentioned programmes. Nobody solves it alone, and we don't claim to have all the answers. What we add is convening: in each place we bring the key players into one system — schools and colleges, employers and SMEs, councils, funders and community anchors — and hold it together.
We braid the funding routes behind each young person, wrap the whole pathway in one keyworker relationship and keep it live: local need and employer demand feed back constantly, so the programme adjusts to its place. An anchor employer confirms a real vacancy before we recruit a single young person; then we build the cohort to fill it. A pipeline, not a programme.
What we do
We run the system no single employer or institution can build alone.
Keyworker delivery
One keyworker per young person, from first contact to 90 days into the job.
Braided funding
Levy, grants and incentives — six funding routes matched behind one person, not scattered across six applications.
Employer relationships
Real vacancies confirmed before a cohort is recruited — not training for training's sake.
Tracked outcomes
Every placement tracked at 6 and 12 months, reported back in full.
Our model
We meet young people where they stand.
A qualified school-leaver and a care-experienced young person managing a health condition can both be labelled ‘NEET.’ What each of them needs from a programme could not be more different. Most systems treat NEET as one category. We don't.
Stage 1 of 4
Furthest from work
The most support, for as long as it takes. A supervised placement and a keyworker who doesn't disappear after week one.
One front door. A keyworker who stays. Every place tied to a real local job.
How it works
The five stages.
Whichever tier someone starts in, these are the same five stages everyone moves through once they're on the programme.
Classroom
Employer encounters before a young person decides what they can't do.
Work-ready
A keyworker builds skills against a confirmed local vacancy.
First job
Placed with an employer. The keyworker stays through the first 90 days — the exact point the government's own analysis says has no support in place at all.
Skilled person
Progression to a Level 3 qualification or apprenticeship, tracked at 6 and 12 months.
Skilled business
We upskill the employer too, so the job is one a young person can grow into.
Classroom
Employer encounters before a young person decides what they can't do.
Work-ready
A keyworker builds skills against a confirmed local vacancy.
First job
Placed with an employer. The keyworker stays through the first 90 days — the exact point the government's own analysis says has no support in place at all.
Skilled person
Progression to a Level 3 qualification or apprenticeship, tracked at 6 and 12 months.
Skilled business
We upskill the employer too, so the job is one a young person can grow into.
“This partnership with Maikai will provide our alumni students with that pivotal first rung on their career ladder and for the businesses we work with, the opportunity to transform their talent puddle to a talent pool.”
Where this is real
Built to go anywhere.
First Rung is a place-based partnership built on a model that returns £27 of social value for every £1 invested. It isn’t built for one postcode. Wherever there’s an anchor with real community trust — a club, a college, a major local employer — First Rung can run.
social value returned for every £1 invested
The ask
Wherever you sit in this, there's a place to start.
Anchor institutions
A club, a college, a major local employer with real community trust. Bring First Rung to your place.
Everyone else
Partners, funders, local authorities — let's talk about what this could look like where you are.