Nuffield Foundation Essential Employment Skills Fund 2026: Up to £500,000 to Strengthen Employment Outcomes for Young People in the UK

The Nuffield Foundation has launched the Essential Employment Skills Fund, a major new funding initiative offering grants of up to £500,000 to build robust evidence about how young people facing significant barriers to employment can develop the skills, attributes and behaviours needed to access and progress into good jobs. The fund focuses specifically on young people aged 16–24 living in the United Kingdom who face significant barriers to entering the labour market. Rather than simply supporting skills programmes, the initiative seeks to establish high-quality evidence about which interventions work, why they work, for whom they work, and how successful approaches can ultimately be expanded or adapted to different settings. The outline application deadline is 10 December 2026, according to the Nuffield Foundation's announcement of the fund. Shortlisted applicants will subsequently be invited to submit full applications in 2027. About the Nuffield Foundation Essential Employment Skills Fund The Essential Employment Skills Fund has been established in response to a major challenge facing the UK: many young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds or facing substantial barriers to work, do not have equal opportunities to develop the skills that employers value. The Nuffield Foundation argues that employment-related skills development needs to be more effectively integrated across education, training and youth-support systems. At the same time, these interventions need to be supported by stronger evidence about what actually works. Through the new fund, the Foundation therefore aims to support the rigorous evaluation of existing UK programmes that help young people aged 16–24 develop essential employment skills and move toward good employment. Grants of up to £500,000 are available for evaluation, with the Foundation anticipating that most evaluation awards will fall between approximately £200,000 and £400,000. There is also potential for additional support toward programme-delivery costs where those costs cannot be covered from other sources, including through partnership funding arrangements. Why Has the Essential Employment Skills Fund Been Created? Youth unemployment and economic inactivity represent serious long-term challenges. Young people who struggle to enter the labour market or gain meaningful employment experience during early adulthood may face consequences extending far beyond their first few years of working life. These can affect their longer-term career trajectories, earnings and well-being. At the same time, employers continue to report difficulties finding young people with the skills they need. The Nuffield Foundation identifies an important disconnect: although employers and educators increasingly recognize the importance of essential employment skills, these competencies do not necessarily receive sufficient emphasis within curricula, assessment and accountability systems. Opportunities to develop these skills can consequently vary substantially according to a young person's circumstances and background. The Essential Employment Skills Fund aims to address an important evidence gap: Which approaches actually help young people facing significant barriers to work develop essential employment skills and progress toward sustainable employment? What Are Essential Employment Skills? For this funding programme, the Nuffield Foundation uses “essential employment skills” as an inclusive term covering a broad range of transferable skills, attributes and behaviours valued by employers across industries and occupations. These skills are associated with important labour-market outcomes such as gaining employment, progressing at work, job satisfaction and earnings. The Foundation highlights research identifying areas such as: • Collaboration • Communication • Creative thinking • Information literacy • Organising, planning and prioritising • Problem solving • Decision making Other established frameworks cover comparable competencies, including speaking, listening, creativity, adapting, planning, leadership and teamwork. Applicants do not have to adopt one particular skills framework. They may use an appropriate existing framework that suits their programme. However, proposals must clearly identify the specific essential employment skill or skills that the intervention intends to develop. Importantly, the Fund is not intended to finance the creation of new definitions or frameworks for essential employment skills. Main Aim of the Fund The central purpose of the Essential Employment Skills Fund is to strengthen the evidence base concerning effective approaches for helping young people aged 16–24 who face significant employment barriers develop essential skills and ultimately gain access to good jobs. The Nuffield Foundation intends to achieve this by supporting rigorous evaluations of relevant programmes and facilitating the dissemination of findings and practical learning. The longer-term objective is not merely to determine whether individual projects succeed. The Foundation wants the evidence generated through funded projects to help successful practices be: • Expanded; • Replicated; • Adapted to different contexts; • Incorporated into wider education and employment systems; and • Used to reduce inequalities in young people's employment outcomes. The Foundation is also interested in projects that improve mechanisms for sharing learning or advance methods for measuring essential employment skills. How Much Funding Is Available? The Essential Employment Skills Fund offers substantial financial support. Maximum grant for evaluation: Up to £500,000 The Foundation expects most evaluation grants to fall within the range of approximately: £200,000 to £400,000 In appropriate circumstances, there may also be additional funding available to contribute toward programme-delivery costs when these cannot be funded from other sources. Organizations considering requesting delivery funding are encouraged to contact the Nuffield Foundation before submitting their application to discuss the proposed arrangements. Who Can Apply? The Essential Employment Skills Fund is primarily designed around organizational partnerships rather than applications from individual young people. This distinction is important. The young people aged 16–24 are primarily the target beneficiaries of the programmes being evaluated, rather than individual applicants for the £500,000 grants. For this particular fund, successful teams will require expertise in two major areas: • Independent evaluation and research expertise • Frontline programme delivery expertise The Nuffield Foundation therefore anticipates receiving applications from partnerships between an evaluator/research organization and a delivery organization. The partnership must already have been established before an application is submitted, and the research design should be developed jointly. Applicants must also clearly explain the division of roles and responsibilities and demonstrate how the evaluation will retain sufficient independence and impartiality. The Foundation expects the evaluation partner to act as the lead applicant. Who Should the Programmes Support? Funded programmes must work with young people aged 16–24 living in the UK, although applicants may choose to concentrate on a narrower age group within this range. For example, an intervention could specifically target people aged 16–19. However, the central emphasis must remain on young people who face significant barriers to employment. Applicants are expected to clearly identify their intended target population and provide a persuasive justification for selecting that group. Young People Facing Significant Barriers to Work The Foundation identifies several circumstances that may increase the likelihood of a young person struggling to access employment. Projects could, for example, focus on young people experiencing one or more factors such as: • Low or no academic qualifications; • Persistent absence from school; • School exclusion; • Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), particularly young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan; • Mental health difficulties; • Experience of the care system; • Young parenthood; • Responsibilities as a young carer; • Membership of Gypsy, Roma or Traveller communities; or • Residence in geographic areas experiencing comparatively high youth unemployment. These examples should not be interpreted as a requirement that every funded programme must cover every listed group. Instead, applicants need to define their particular target population and provide evidence explaining why the selected group faces meaningful barriers to employment. Reaching Young People Who Need Support Most The Nuffield Foundation places particular emphasis on recruitment and sustained engagement. Applicants must provide a realistic strategy explaining how they will: • Identify eligible young people; • Recruit them into the programme; • Maintain their participation and engagement; and • Avoid restricting participation to individuals who are comparatively easy to reach. This is significant because programmes intended to reduce employment inequality can fail to achieve their purpose if they primarily attract individuals who are already comparatively well connected to education, training or employment services. What Types of Programmes Can Be Funded? An eligible programme must have an explicit objective of developing at least one essential employment skill among participating young people. Many programmes will naturally address several skills simultaneously. The development of essential employment skills may form part of a broader programme containing other forms of support. Potential activities could include: • Literacy, numeracy or digital-skills development; • Vocational education or training; • CV preparation; • Interview preparation and employment support; • Enterprise and entrepreneurship training; • Mentoring; • Coaching; • Volunteering; • Community activities; • Work experience; • Work-based learning; • Peer support; • Mental-health support; and • Assistance with practical barriers such as housing or benefits. This provides applicants with considerable flexibility in designing or adapting programmes, provided that essential employment skills remain an explicit and measurable component. Existing and Promising Programmes Are Prioritized Organizations should note that the Fund is not primarily designed to finance entirely new programmes developed from scratch. Given the level of funding available and the emphasis on rigorous evaluation, the Nuffield Foundation expects to support existing programmes that already demonstrate some evidence of promise. Projects may nevertheless adapt or refocus an established intervention. For example, an organization could propose testing an existing programme within a different environment, population or delivery context. The programme should be based on a clear and convincing theory of change, supported by previous testing, relevant evidence and/or theoretical literature. Robust Impact Evaluation Is Essential Evaluation is not an optional addition to this funding opportunity; it is one of its defining requirements. Funded programmes must include a robust impact evaluation. At minimum, the evaluation must examine: • Changes in the targeted essential employment skills; and • Participants' progress toward employment. Progress toward employment could include outcomes such as: • Starting a job; • Beginning an apprenticeship; • Accessing voluntary employment; • Participating in a supported internship; • Completing work experience; or • Enrolling in further training. The appropriate evaluation methodology will depend on the intervention and its stage of development. However, the Foundation expec

• Applicants must be a partnership of at least two organizations already established before application submission • Partnership must include independent evaluation/research expertise and frontline programme delivery expertise • The evaluation partner must act as the lead applicant • Programmes must work with young people aged 16–24 living in the United Kingdom • Programmes must focus on young people facing significant barriers to employment • Applicants must clearly identify and justify their intended target population • Research design must be developed jointly by both partners • Applicants must clearly explain the division of roles and responsibilities • Evaluation must retain sufficient independence and impartiality • Proposals must clearly identify the specific essential employment skill(s) the intervention aims to develop • Applicants must use an appropriate existing skills framework or clearly define which framework guides their intervention