The Sir Alec Reed Prize awarded to UK Youth; a £1 million prize to support young people

The Reed Foundation is awarding a £1 million prize to UK Youth, one of the longest-standing youth charities in the UK.

The Reed Foundation, which owns 18 per cent of the Reed Group, created the £1m ‘Sir Alec Reed Prize’ in celebration of its founder, Sir Alec Reed’s 90th birthday and Reed’s 65th year in business. The prize is intended to support young people aged between 16 and 24 who are experiencing poor mental health to secure or keep employment.

Alex Chapman, chair of The Reed Foundation, said: “Statistics show that young people who are experiencing poor mental health are more likely to be out of work than their healthy peers.

“With the number of young people experiencing poor mental health rising, myself, the trustees and Sir Alec felt very strongly that this was something we wanted to address, and support, through the Sir Alec Reed Prize.

“There are an estimated 576,000 economically inactive young people, aged 16 to 24, who are NEET – not in employment, education or training – and this is something we’re dedicated to addressing.”

More than 20 charities were invited to apply for the Reed Foundation prize which was designed to fund innovation and new approaches to ensure young people experiencing poor mental health are better able to secure and keep employment.

After liaising with a small advisory panel, made up of young people who have experienced poor mental health and joblessness, as well as mental health practitioners, commissioning and policy experts and bestselling writer and mental health campaigner Rachel Kelly, the Reed Foundation trustees assessed the bids and selected UK Youth as the recipient of the £1m prize.

Vicky Browning, UK Youth interim chief executive officer, said: “We’re honoured and excited to have been awarded this prize from The Reed Foundation.

“We know from our existing programmes that experiencing poor mental health remains one of the greatest and most consistent barriers to young people entering and remaining in employment. It is vital young people get the early help they need to thrive, particularly in terms of mental health.

“In a sector that’s incredibly under-funded, £1 million is game-changing. This will allow us to broaden our scope to empower young people and potentially transform their lives through the support we will now be able to extend to them. Working together across sectors and services, including youth workers, is key to supporting young people.”

Mental health campaigner Rachel Kelly, a member of the Reed Foundation’s advisory panel, said: “I know from first-hand experience, and as an ambassador for mental health charities SANE and Rethink Mental Illness, that being employed is crucial for wellbeing. It was a real honour to have been involved in the Reed Foundation’s efforts to help young people who are struggling with their psychological health to both get and keep a job.

“The £1 million prize awarded to UK Youth will change lives – and minds. Hats off to the Foundation for stepping up to one of the great challenges of our time.”

UK Youth places mental health and wellbeing at the core of its strategy. Youth work significantly enhances young people’s ability to understand and manage their emotions, leading to improved wellbeing.

With the funding, UK Youth will create an innovative new programme, developed in partnership with young people, youth workers and employers, which will support young people experiencing poor mental health to secure and sustain employment. The programme will include workshop sessions delivered by youth workers and young people themselves, professional mentoring, internships and work placements. UK Youth will also be working with employers to make the work place environment and culture more appropriate and supportive of young people with poor mental health.

This incredible £1 million grant builds on a year of donations by the Reed Foundation. To further celebrate Sir Alec’s 90th birthday and Reed’s 65th anniversary, the Reed Foundation has been donating £10,000 every week for a year to support 52 different charities, nominated by an employee chosen at random. This means that, by April 2025, the Reed Foundation will also have donated more than £1.5m to charities close to its employees’ hearts.

UK Youth is a leading charity with a vision that all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. With an open network of more than 9,000 youth organisations and nation partners; UK Youth reaches more than four million young people across the UK and is focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change that is needed now more than ever. To find out more, visit ukyouth.org

UK Youth is involved in a range of programmes designed to help young people thrive, such as outdoor learning, physical literacy, social action and employability. For more on UK Youth’s programmes, see ukyouth.org/what-we-do/programmes

Sir Alec Reed founded Reed in Hounslow 65 years ago. Today, it is the world’s largest family-run recruitment business, with offices across the UK, Europe, USA, Middle East and Asia. As a firm advocate for social change and charitable giving, Sir Alec Reed went on to set up The Reed Foundation which holds 18% of the shares of the Reed business.

Reed is the largest family-run recruitment business in the world and have been improving lives through work since 1960. We have the UK’s largest candidate database, expertise in 20 specialist sectors and offer the longest guarantees on the market. We’re a pioneer of specialist recruitment services and our experts work with more than 30,000 organisations in the UK to fill their temporary, permanent and interim positions. For more information on our services, jobs and industry insight, visit reed.com