Norfolk employment support scheme Boost hailed at Government inquiry

A scheme that has supported hundreds of young people in Norfolk into training and the job market has been hailed at a Government select committee inquiry. 

Boost has helped people in King's Lynn and Breckland who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) on their journey towards where they want to be in terms of a career path and provided the "hand-holding support" they need since it was launched. 

The Work and Pensions Committee's Youth Employment, Education and Training Inquiry heard about the project's achievements from Jan Feeney, Head of Employment and Skills at Norfolk County Council, in her evidence on Wednesday 11 March.

Also appearing before the committee were David Gaughan, Director of Employment & Skills, West Midlands Combined Authority, and Dave McCallum, Head of CIAG Operations, Skills Development Scotland.

Apprenticeships, National Insurance and Minimum Wage rises are all under scrutiny as the committee looks at polices that will have an impact on the employability of young people across the UK. 

In her evidence, Ms Feeney told the inquiry how Boost had been developed in 2021 and piloted in King's Lynn for two years as part of its Town Deal funding for less than £450,000. Through the programme, young people who were NEET were helped to "move towards and into that bespoke support that young people need, that hand-holding support".

"It's very much a convening mechanism bringing together all the agencies that work in the area to support young people, bringing them together, working with the young person and finding that right pathway that works for that individual," she said.

"That was together with a fund within that project that enabled us to put on some provision that helped young people to move to the place that they wanted to be in terms of a career path - short-term interventions that were unable to be offered through an FE institution. 

"So, it very much acts as a bridge; it's not a destination. It helps young people navigate a confusing system, it's flexible so it adapts to their needs and helps them to move forward, and it enables young people to feel in control. It feels like they're not being controlled and can actually set their own destinations and work with us to be able to help them to move towards where they need and want to be.

"It gives them agency; they feel like they are actually being involved in those decisions which is really important for them. One young person said, 'There is an actual goal to look forward, there is a lot more hope. They always try to move me forward. It's not like I'm stuck in one place forever'."

Boost has been funded in King's Lynn via the Government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund and since been extended to Breckland. In West Norfolk, 594 new learners were assisted from 2022-2024, 168 socially excluded people accessed support in 2024/25, and 145 people were reached to the end of February 2026.

In Breckland, a total of 110 socially excluded people accessed support in 2024/25 and 122 have been reached to the end of February this year.

Commenting on future funding for Boost, Ms Feeney told the committee: "Obviously that's now come to an end, and we are needing to fund it ourselves with a little bit of support from districts over the next year. But after that we just don't have the funding to continue. So, the issue is very much about how we create the opportunity and access some external funding to be able to continue this work because it really provides that glue that supports young people who are further from the labour market to move closer to and into.

"This year we are pivoting the project to move young people into Connect to Work, so recognising the policy change and that Connect to Work is actually going to do that work around supporting young people, and at the point when they are ready to start job searching we will move them into that project."