- Over 140 roles offered to care experienced people since the launch of the Building Happier Futures programme
- Latest progress report highlights over £2.2m raised for charities supporting care experience
- New Building Happier Futures report launched at a celebratory event held in Maidenhead
The John Lewis Partnership today reveals that it has offered 143 roles to people from the care experienced community through its employment initiative; a six-fold increase on last year. The Partnership’s Building Happier Futures programme, which supports care experienced people into work and education, has also raised £2.2m since its launch in 2022, celebrated today at the launch of the second annual impact report: bit.ly/BHFImpact2024
The Building Happier Futures programme aims to offer employability support to care experienced people, including work experience, CV writing and interview skills to ultimately create job opportunities.
Ahead of Care Leavers Week, the report launched highlights milestones achieved since the programme’s inception in 2022, including:
- Over 600 Partners (employees of the John Lewis Partnership) completed care experience learning with Who Cares? Scotland, deepening their understanding to become proactive allies.
- 550 care experienced people have engaged in the Building Happier Futures employability programme
- The John Lewis Partnership was named The Fostering Network’s 2023 Employer of the Year, as well as becoming a Silver Standard Kinship Friendly Employer with national charity, Kinship.
- Partnering again with the Open University, we jointly fund 8 student scholarships for young, care experienced people in 2024; taking our total to 12 scholarships since 2023.
- The Building Happier Futures programme moved to sit as a Fund, as part of the John Lewis Partnership Foundation. The change allows that, alongside supporting our existing charity partners, we can now award grants to UK projects that provide education, connection, experience and fun for care experienced people.
Ceira Thom, Head of Learning, Inclusion and Belonging, said; “I’m very proud to introduce the second Building Happier Futures annual report. In the last year, we’ve continued to collaborate and learn from experts in the community to make sure our work is credible and sustainable. I’m particularly proud that we’ve extended our work to offer dedicated Apprenticeships for care experienced people, and opportunities for connections and learning life skills with our Cookery School offer.
“We continue to work with local authorities, charities and trusts to create employment opportunities for young people and remain passionate about being the employer of choice for individuals with care experience.”
Jo Rackham, Interim Executive Director, People, at the John Lewis Partnership, said: “As I reflect on the progress that is being made and the impact that the Building Happier Futures programme has had two years in, it reinforces my belief in our Partnership as a truly different kind of business, which places our purpose; to work in partnership for a happier world, at its heart.
“A genuine thank you to all those involved in realising our 2024 impacts; we’re only two years in but we’re building momentum and are excited to see where we’ll all be a further 12 months from now.”
Minister for Children & Families, Janet Daby, who attended the launch event today, said: “We’re determined to deliver the best life chances for all children and make sure they have the support they need to thrive.
“We know that for many young people, leaving care can be intimidating and overwhelming, which is why it’s fantastic to see the work that the John Lewis Partnership is doing to support care experienced young people with opportunities to build their skills and fulfil their potential.
“We will continue to make the transition out of care as a smooth as possible by helping care leavers to access accommodation, jobs and practical and emotional help.”
Notes to Editors:
About the Building Happier Futures programme:
In 2022, the John Lewis Partnership launched the Building Happier Futures programme. The programme aims to help care experienced young people improve their career prospects, fundraise for investment in the care experience community and influence societal change.
About Action for Children
Action for Children protects and supports vulnerable children and young people by providing practical and emotional care and support, ensuring their voices are heard and campaigning to bring lasting improvements to their lives. With 447 services across the UK, in schools and online, in 2021/22 we helped 671,275 children, young people and families. www.actionforchildren.org.uk
About Who Cares? Scotland
Who Cares? Scotland was established in 1978 and is Scotland’s only national independent membership organisation for Care Experienced people. Its strategic vision is to secure a lifetime of equality, respect and love for Care Experienced people in Scotland. Find out more about Who Cares? Scotland by visiting www.whocaresscotland.org
About Home-Start UK
Home-Start is a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times. We are there for parents when they need us the most because childhood can’t wait. Last year Home-Start supported 78,900 children in 43,692 families, in communities across the UK. www.home-start.org.uk
Supporting quotes from charity partners:
Paul Carberry, Chief Executive at Action for Children, said:
“Action for Children’s vision is that every child and young person has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive. Our work with the John Lewis Partnership is helping more care experienced children and young people to have the stability they need and deserve. We are so proud to be in partnership on the Building Happier Futures programme to inspire more support for young people with care experience now and in the future.”
Louise Hunter, CEO, Who Cares? Scotland, said:
“The Building Happier Futures programme has had a significant impact since it launched, and has continued to grow from strength to strength over the last year. The funds raised have enabled us to offer more moments of happiness to our members than ever before – including our Care Family Christmas, Carelidh and Summer Camp. The benefits of bringing Care Experienced people together in connection and belonging cannot be overstated. However, the impact of the programme goes much deeper with John Lewis Partnership investing in Care Aware training for partners to ensure that their workplace is somewhere that Care Experienced people can thrive. Alongside this, it has been a privilege to sit on the Building Happier Future’s Advisory Board, to come together to influence the future of Care Experienced people all over the UK. The partnership has achieved amazing things so far, and I am excited to see how much we can achieve together going forward.”
Laurie Goldie, Who Cares? Scotland, Project Manager: Creating Communities that Care, said:
“We’ve had the pleasure of delivering live, facilitated “Care Aware” training to over 500 Partners from across the organisation throughout 2023/24. Using evidence-based framing techniques and centring the voice of lived experience, we take Partners on a journey to understand what care experience is; the impact it can have on an individual; and how everyone can play a part in ensuring that all colleagues have a strong scaffold of support around them. The commitment the Partnership is making to Care Experienced people is a bold and radical one, and we encourage other businesses to follow their lead and contribute to more Care Aware workforces across the UK.”
Vivien Waterfield, Deputy CEO of Home-Start UK, said:
“Building Happier Futures is an incredible example of what can be achieved when business, charities and community organisations come together to make a change to society. We know that having a strong, loving and supportive family can have a positive and protective effect on children’s lives. By creating a programme that both works with families at the earliest stages to prevent crisis, and also supports children who have entered the care system, Building Happier Futures is creating better outcomes for children. Together we want all children and families to get the right kind of support and to see investment in a high-quality system of care and well-trained and supported workforce. I am incredibly proud to see the impact that has been achieved, captured in this report.”
Sarah Thomas, Chief Executive of The Fostering Network, said:
“Building Happier Futures continues to have a huge impact for the fostering community across the UK. As a Fostering Friendly employer, the John Lewis Partnership is providing vital support to partners who foster and those going through the approval process. We need to recruit and retain foster carers now more than ever and JLP have helped spread this urgent call to new audiences. With the majority of care experienced children in the UK living in fostering families, the impact of initiatives like this cannot be underestimated. The John Lewis Partnership is leading the way as a socially responsible employer and others should follow in their footsteps.”
Katharine Sacks-Jones, Chief Executive at Become, said:
“The John Lewis Partnership's ongoing commitment to the care experienced community is brilliant. At Become, we are committed to ensuring every care experienced young person has the chance to thrive, and the impact highlighted in this report reflects that shared vision. We are grateful for John Lewis' support of our work to help care experienced young people overcome the challenges they face, develop their skills and move into work. We look forward to continuing to collaborate and drive even greater change for care experienced young people in the years to come.”
