In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the government allocated £55 million for the Department to invest in developing new digital services and testing elements of the jobs and careers service in 2025–26.55 We asked the Department what progress has been made in deciding how to use the extra £55 million in funding it had been allocated.56 It told us that it was spending some of the money on a coaching academy to upskills its work coaches on what the jobs and careers service is going to be, on its ‘pathfin...

In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the government allocated £55 million for the Department to invest in developing new digital services and testing elements of the jobs and careers service in 2025–26.55 We asked the Department what progress has been made in deciding how to use the extra £55 million in funding it had been allocated.56 It told us that it was spending some of the money on a coaching academy to upskills its work coaches on what the jobs and careers service is going to be, on its ‘pathfinder projects’ around parts of the country, and on developing digital services for the new jobs and careers service.57 Type: conclusion | Number: 26 | Response status: response_pending Government response: 5.2 Funding for 2025-26 is intended to design and test the new Jobs and Careers Service. £15 million has been allocated to undertake a series of tests and trials, of which the Wakefield Pathfinder is one test, £5 million to explore alternative delivery solutions, £20 million has been allocated t