Futures For All Impact Report 2024–25: Making a Real-World Difference

Report launch
3 days ago
3 min read

This year has been a milestone in our history.

We celebrated 15 years of opening doors for state-educated students, supported over 150,000 young people, with our highest ever numbers for multi-day work experience participation, and embarked on an exciting new chapter as Futures For All.

As our CEO Nick Brook notes:

“This is not just reach; it is transformation.”

Our latest Impact Report details how we are turning ambition into delivery based on what truly works for young people.

Here are five key takeaways from the 2024-2025 report:

A new name, the same mission

While our name has changed to Futures For All, our mission remains as vital as when we began in 2010: ensuring every young person has a fair chance to explore their potential, regardless of their background.

Over the last 15 years, we have grown from bringing speakers into classrooms to becoming the UK’s largest provider of work experience. To date, we have supported 1,850,000 young people, delivering over 10,000 inspirational talks and nearly 36,000 young people attending work opportunities.

The power of inspiration continues

Our Speakers for Schools Programme remains a cornerstone of our work, reaching 136,272 young people this year alone. This year, students heard from leading figures such as Gabby Logan OBE, Marcus Wareing MBE, and Jasmine Dotiwala OBE, putting real people with diverse journeys in front of students to challenge assumptions.

The data shows it works: 81% of young people felt they could achieve whatever career they set their mind to after attending a talk, and 75% gained insight into a sector they had no previous knowledge of.

Deepening impact and expanding access through innovation

This year, our Work Experience Programme connected state-educated students with 289 employers across diverse sectors, delivering almost 400 opportunities.

To scale access without compromising quality, we introduced the Work Experience Finder, the UK’s first free national platform for local opportunities, and piloted flexible formats like Evening WEX and placements for Year 9 students. We also launched the IntoTech pilot (funded by The Hg Foundation) to demystify the tech sector for underrepresented groups.

The results of this focus on accessible, high-quality placements are clear: 92% of participants felt more knowledgeable about their own skills, 89% reported enhanced creativity, and 86% improved their problem-solving abilities.

A trusted partner for schools and employers

Our impact is built on trust. The feedback from our network confirms that our model delivers value for everyone involved.

This year, 100% of employers said they would recommend Futures For All to other organisations, and 100% said they would consider working with us again. Similarly, 99% of educators reported feeling supported by us in helping their students access life-changing opportunities.

Shaping the future of work experience

We are not just delivering opportunities; we are defining how they should work at a national scale. This year, we published our landmark policy report, High-Quality and High-Impact Work Experience for All, offering a practical roadmap to deliver on the government’s ambition of a two-week work experience guarantee.

To ensure this scale does not come at the cost of quality, we also released our research report, What Makes High-Quality Work Experience?, which defines the specific indicators of impactful practice. This research underpins our new Framework for High-Quality Work Experience, a practical tool developed over 18 months of regional consultation. By establishing clear quality standards, such as structured reflection and meaningful interactivity, we are helping employers and educators understand exactly what ‘good’ looks like.

From detailed programme outcomes to the launch of our new Quality Framework, there is much to discover in the full report, including films of young people sharing their journey from work experience to employment.