New pilot to boost digital apprenticeships backed with £1 million from Salesforce

• New pilot targets support for disadvantaged young people to increase digital skills and opportunities.

• 81% of current digital job vacancies due to skills shortages.

• One third of businesses not confident they can find the digital needed over next 30-years.

• Sector currently accounts for 1.8 million UK jobs and set to grow.

Disadvantaged young people are to get targeted support with a new pilot scheme to develop skills, break down barriers and boost take up of digital apprenticeships, backed by £1m from global tech giant Salesforce.

The pilot will be run by The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC), the national body for careers education, in five regions over the next two years.

It will test what support works best in breaking down barriers to apprenticeships and encouraging disadvantaged young people to take up jobs in the rapidly growing digital sector.

It comes as a recent Skills England report said the digital sector was key to driving future economic growth, but is also a sector hampered by skills gaps which are holding back growth.

The report highlighted that, in a sector worth £158bn to the UK economy, 81% of hard to fill vacancies are down to skills shortages.

Less than a third of UK businesses are confident they can access the digital skills they need over the next 3-5 years.   

Five of CEC’s Careers Hubs (drawn from a national network) have been selected to run the pilot. They are Devon and Cornwall, East Sussex, Lancashire, Leicestershire and Somerset:

• In Devon and Cornwall, Year 9-13 students from deprived areas will be supported with week-long tech work experience plus workshops. These are designed to improve skills and increase awareness of and interest in local digital sector careers to improve social mobility through access to tech jobs.
• In East Sussex, the project will work with disadvantaged young people and parents in 10 local schools to increase awareness of the wide range of jobs in the digital sector. Students will be matched with 20 local tech companies to work on real world project briefs over a period of six months. In addition, those employers will be supported to access advice on apprenticeship, T-level and work placements to improve supply of these opportunities.
• In Lancashire, a T-Level agency will be established to provide year-round support to 60 students – 30 of whom will be from disadvantaged backgrounds - and 60 local businesses, involving mentoring and digital project work to connect employers to their future workforce pipeline and increase the number of digital apprenticeship opportunities offered by employers.
• In Leicestershire, the We Discover Digital programme will target disadvantaged young people with a range of employer-led activities to improve their knowledge of digital job opportunities and encourage employers to build lasting relationships with local schools, colleges and their future workforce. It will also increase educators and parents’ understanding of the digital sector.
• In Somerset, there will be a particular emphasis on young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and neurodiverse students. Partnerships between employers and schools will take a tailored individual approach to identifying support needs, developing skills and breaking down barriers to digital sector opportunities. Employers will be supported in developing more inclusive recruitment and work practices to help widen their talent pool.

The ambition of the pilot is to take the evidence of what works in supporting disadvantaged young people into digital apprenticeships to develop national solutions.

Oli de Botton, CEO of The Careers & Enterprise Company said:

“The digital sector is fundamental to our future economic growth and apprenticeships are a fantastic pathway into rewarding jobs in the sector.

“However, too often, disadvantaged young people face additional barriers to taking up opportunities, this leave potential unfulfilled for young people and employers.

“Thanks to the support of Salesforce, this pilot will explore and identify ways in which we can break down those barriers, opening new opportunities for disadvantaged young people in the rapidly growing and strategically important tech sector and boosting digital talent pipelines.”

Ron Smith VP of Philanthropy at Salesforce said:

"Ensuring that youth acquire digital skills is essential to building a future-ready society. At Salesforce, we’re committed to supporting the Careers and Enterprise Company to run innovative, educational initiatives that expose students to the careers and tech skills of tomorrow. By fostering digital literacy we are equipping them with the skills to thrive in an increasingly AI-driven world".