In 2012, the National Careers Service (NCS) was launched to provide young people with the support, information and guidance that they need to gain employment. As model-turned-chef Lorraine Pascale put it at the service’s launch: “I’d encourage everyone to make the most of the NCS to find out how to take their career forward and realise their ambitions.”

But five years on and £380 million in government funding later, researchers evaluating the effectiveness of the NCS have found that the service does not in fact have any positive effect on people’s chances of finding a job.

A report, commissioned by the Department for Education and written by consultants London Economics, “could not identify a positive impact of the NCS on employment or benefit-dependency outcomes”.

After comparing the progress of NCS customers with a comparable group of people who did not use it, the researchers found that those supported by the service spent less time in employment in the months that followed.

According to the NCS, young people aged 13 and older are given access to up-to-date, impartial information and professional guidance on careers, skills and the labour market through an online service and telephone helpline, while adults aged 19 and older can access one-to-one support from a “qualified, adviser, face-to-face in the community”.

The evaluation of the contribution of the NCS, however, finds that the employment outcomes of its customers actually worsen in the first months post-support. In the sixth month after receiving NCS support, customers spent 3.5 per cent less time in employment than peers who did not access the service. The gap later narrows, but even in the 24th month after intervention, those who receive support spent, on average, 2 per cent less time in employment.

The researchers have noted caveats to these figures and stressed that they identified a “relatively strong effect in relation to education and training that persisted across the entire post-support period”.

Body has ‘lost its way’

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden says the evaluation suggests that “in the five years [that the NCS] has been in existence, it has slightly lost its way”.

“I would hope that given the importance of careers advice in terms of getting young people proper opportunities for apprenticeships, and older people proper opportunities for reskilling, its structure now needs to be re-examined urgently,” he adds.

It is pressing, now more than ever, that the government prioritises the release of its careers strategy before even more young people are let down by poor-quality postcode-lottery careers advice

Shakira Martin, vice-president for FE at the NUS students’ union, says that she is not surprised by the report’s findings. “My members have constantly said that careers provision is poor in the UK, and our own research tells us that 68 per cent of students think that 16 is too early to be making choices that will define their future career path.

“It is pressing, now more than ever, that the government prioritises the release of its careers strategy before even more young people are let down by poor-quality postcode-lottery careers advice.”

Stephen Evans, chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, cautions that there are “a number of important caveats in the analysis that means it’s important not to overinterpret the findings”.

“The NCS has wider objectives, in addition to helping people find work more quickly,” he adds. “Its staff work hard each day to help people. Nonetheless, the fact that the research cannot identify a positive impact of the service on employment or benefit receipt is worrying and gives pause for thought. Ultimately, we need to be clear what the NCS is for.”

Mr Evans also calls for the government’s forthcoming strategy on careers advice to “set out a clear vision for a NCS that is there to boost social inclusion and productivity”.

The government has said that the strategy, due to be published later this year, will improve the information, advice, guidance and wraparound support available to help people into education and employment.

According to a spokeswoman for the Department for Education, the research in the report on the NCS was carried out in 2014. Since then, a number of changes to the organisation have been made. These include a move to an outcome-funded model focused on progression into jobs and learning, customer satisfaction and career management.

“Between April and December 2016, the NCS supported 121,544 new customers to progress into jobs and/or learning,” the spokeswoman adds.

“In addition to the NCS, we are investing £90 million by 2020 to transform the quality of the careers education, advice and guidance offered to young people.”

@JBelgutay