Youth Guarantee Trailblazer Scheme

The Youth Guarantee Trailblazer Scheme offers 18 to 21-year-olds in the Liverpool City Region who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) access to apprenticeships, training and employment support. Find out more about the partners who will deliver the scheme's programmes and how to contact them, or email YouthTrailblazer@liverpool.gov.uk for further information.

What will our partners do?

The organisations listed on this page will create opportunities for young people to gain entry into employment, engage in sports, arts, and health and wellbeing programme or get in-work support if they have a SEND.

In addition, local businesses will be offered training to support disadvantaged young people, including care-experienced young people, in the workplace.

These organisations will work alongside Liverpool City Council's Film Office, SEND teams, financial inclusion teams, Liverpool in Work, and staff who support care experienced young people.

Our entry to employment partners

These partners work with young people to provide mentoring and tailored support, moving them closer to the labour market and into work.

Catch 22

Telephone: 0151 546 5120
Email: info@catch-22.org.uk 
Website: catch-22.org.uk

Catch22 specialises in supporting young people who are NEET or at risk of disengagement, particularly those facing multiple barriers such as care experience, neurodivergence, justice involvement, or socio-economic disadvantage.  

Participants will have a personalised action plan, co-produced with a dedicated Catch22 Career Mentor who will also help remove barriers to work through travel passes, food vouchers and digital devices. 

Mentors will work out of community venues such a Picton Children's Centre and Kensington Children's Centre, local libraries, further education settings and housing hubs. We'll also work in employer premises such as Alder Hey Hospital, Travelodge, and GMI Construction sites.

Merseyside Youth Association

Telephone: 0151 702 0700
Email: admin@mya.org.uk 
Website: mya.org.uk 

By encouraging participation, celebrating progress, and motivating each step forward, the programme helps young people move into meaningful employment, education, or training. 

Each participant will be supported by a dedicated mentor, a trusted adult who provides consistent, personalised support. This relationship equips young people with confidence, resilience, knowledge, and skills to overcome barriers, develop coping mechanisms, and explore their talents. 

Our programme also provides immediate access to therapeutic support, delivered by a BACP-accredited counsellor. Support will include counselling, wellbeing sessions, and resilience workshops. Delivery will be Liverpool-based, in venues such a MYA’s City Centre base on Hanover Street and at community venues across the city. 

The Big Trust

Telephone: 07507 786 201
Email: info@thebigtrust.org 
Website: thebigtrust.org

We view young people not as problems to fix, but as individuals with untapped potential who need holistic, sustained support. Every participant will co-create a personal action plan with their mentor. This is a meaningful process where aspirations, barriers, and strengths are identified together. 

Our programme is co-designed with young people to ensure it directly addresses the barriers they identify. The flexible modular delivery, with adaptable timetables, is designed for those with chaotic lives. 

We'll give holistic wraparound support including wellbeing advice, financial and housing guidance, and advocacy across complex systems. We'll ensure that employment opportunities inspire, with direct contact with employers, workplace visits, and aspirational role models. The programme will give clear progression pathways, ensuring every young person leaves with a supported, achievable plan into employment, training, or education. 

Our sports and creative partners

These organisations will provide innovative programmes using creative approaches with arts, health and wellbeing, or sports themes. The programmes are designed to motivate, excite and engage young people enabling them to progress towards a positive destination.

Be Free Campaign

Telephone: 0151 440 2331
Email: info@befreecampaign.org 
Website: befreecampaign.org

Our tailored programme uses creative cultural wellbeing approaches to re-engage young people aged 17 to 21. Our method combines arts, digital storytelling and peer-led facilitation to create safe, engaging environments where young people can rebuild confidence, explore identity, and develop the practical skills needed to transition into education, employment or training. The programme includes: 

• Engagement and Trust-Building: 1:1 outreach and small group sessions, facilitated by relatable staff with lived experience.
• Creative Exploration: workshops using art, music, digital media and storytelling to foster cultural pride, self-expression and resilience.
• Mental Health Literacy: integrated learning from our evidence-based prevention programme, equipping participants with coping tools and self-management strategies.
• Progression Planning: structured sessions that introduce pathways into volunteering, youth leadership, accredited training, or direct work placements. 

The programme will be delivered from Kensington Community Centre, Toxteth youth and community hubs, our Baltic Triangle base, and Strawberry Field. 

Merseyside Youth Association

Telephone: 0151 702 0700
Email: admin@mya.org.uk 
Website: mya.org.uk 

This programme offers a choice of outdoor education or music. Outdoor education activities will include water sports, archery, bushcraft, team challenges, and problem-solving.  Participants will also have opportunities to volunteer through site maintenance or peer mentoring. All participants will be registered for the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.

The music strand offers free access to professional lessons in guitar, vocals, keyboard or production. It gives space for artistic development and band creation, and industry-led workshops. Participants gain opportunities for live performance, studio recording, and showcasing original work. 

The programmes will be delivered in our City Centre Youth Hub on Hanover Street, the home of our Youth Employment Hub and recording studio, and in The Dam Outdoor Education Centre in Lord Derby’s Estate, which is a calming, therapeutic setting with structured outdoor activities. Transport will be provided via MYA’s minibus from Liverpool. 

Sound City Liverpool

Email: hello@soundcity.uk.com 
Website: soundcity.uk.com

We help young people develop their creative talents or embark on careers in the music industry. The programme will offer an open drop-in session so potential participants can learn more, meet the course leaders and fellow young people before the programme starts. It's a 10-week course with weekly 2-hour sessions.

Our music workshops are participatory sessions, through music making, song writing or hip-hop. Mentors cover marketing, business skills, project management, business, digital and production.

We offer a cash bursary to invest in equipment, training or developing a business idea, or a four-week paid internship. Pastoral care is given during and beyond the launch programme and translators can be provided, if they are needed. The programme takes place in Liverpool City Centre, in our Jordan Street space or other venues which are fully accessible.

The Kings Trust

Telephone: 0800 842842
Live chat: Access The Kings Trust Live Chat
Website: kingstrust.org.uk

Get Started is a week-long programme to motivate, excite and engage young people.  
We will run taster days for each programme. These allow young people to meet peers, staff, and delivery partners in a relaxed setting, helping identify any additional support needs ahead of the main programme.  

Young people are welcomed into an accessible environment. Our outreach staff take time to address concerns such as travelling on public transport or mixing with peers from another area, and offer personalised support. All attendance-related expenses are covered to ensure participants are not out of pocket. We will deliver two programmes:

• November 2025: 'Get Started with Fashion Upcycling' delivered in partnership with School of Create, including a focus on fashion, understanding sustainability and practical skills such as sewing and mending.
• January 2026: 'Get Started with Football Coaching' delivered in partnership with David Campbell Soccer, with a focus on coaching skills, football techniques and how to work effectively as a team  

Taster Day and Next Steps Day will be at Unit 203, The King's Trust, Vanilla Factory, 39 Fleet St, Liverpool L1 4AR. The programmes will take place at our delivery partners’ locations. To support young people with travel, we meet at our base at the Vanilla Factory and travel with them to the venue to ensure they can access the programme with ease.

Our partner who delivers work support for young people with SEND

This organisation provides in-work support for young trailblazers with additional needs, who are about to enter paid work. 

Blackburne House partnering with 33 Creative Group

Telephone: 0151 709 4356
Email: reception@blackburnehouse.co.uk
 Website: blackburnehouse.co.uk

We will deliver an in-work support programme for young people aged 17 to 21 which is person-centred, and gives on-the-job coaching and mentoring. Support will be made up of:  

• One-to-one coaching and mentoring, either as they enter employment or during the early stages of their new role. 
• Weekly one-hour sessions led by trained mentors who identify barriers early, signpost to in-house support such as a youth counsellor, financial support, childcare, additional SEND provision and act as a consistent key person throughout the process.
• A co-design a personalised support plan, focusing on attendance, routine, resilience, and communication. 
• A progress review with both the young person and the employer, ensuring agreed next steps and continued support. 

Mentoring will be delivered directly in the workplace.

Our partner who delivers managers as mentors training 

This organisation delivers a training programme to equip local businesses with the skills, knowledge, and tools to effectively support and retain disadvantaged young people, including care-experienced young people, in the workplace.

No Place Productions

Telephone: 07889 843 827
Email: noplaceproductions@outlook.com 
Website: noplaceproductions.co.uk

The Managers as Mentors training programme supports managers to become effective mentors, equipped with the empathy, understanding, and practical skills required to nurture the potential of care-experienced young people, particularly those who have also experienced periods of not being in employment, education, or training (NEET). 

Core topics of every training group are:  

• Understanding the care system and the lived experience of care leavers
• Barriers to employment and retention for disadvantaged young people
• Trauma-informed leadership and inclusive supervision
• Coaching and mentoring models
• Supporting emotional wellbeing in the workplace
• Practical support mechanisms
• Strategies for promoting commitment, routine and positive engagement
• Flexible policies and reasonable adjustments
• Sustaining engagement and responding to challenges
• Building a psychologically safe and supportive workplace culture

Training is delivered in small groups of up to fifteen employers, maximising opportunities for meaningful interaction and personalised feedback. The first cohort will commence in December 2025, with a second group in March 2026. The content and delivery will be adapted to reflect the sectoral context of participants.