Hatch Consultancy has announced the Wales Early Careers Awards, a new national awards programme recognising organisations across Wales for excellence in early careers practice.
The inaugural ceremony is planned for 2027. The awards are built on Talent Yfory (“Tomorrow's Talent”), Wales' first Early Careers Social Value Index, published by Hatch in June 2026.
The index draws on responses from more than 450 apprentices, graduates, students and employers across Wales, using social return on investment (SROI) methodology to measure the wellbeing value generated by early careers pathways into work.
The findings make the case for structured pathways: apprenticeships generate approximately £14,000 of wellbeing value per participant and graduate programmes approximately £10,000, compared with £7,000 for non-structured entry-level roles. The index measures five dimensions of wellbeing: confidence, purpose, belonging and autonomy, alongside stress and anxiety, as well as the barriers young people face in accessing work in the first place.
Jack Taylor, Director of Hatch Consultancy, said:
“Wales has never had a way to properly measure the wellbeing and social impact of how young people move into work. Talent Yfory gives employers, colleges, universities and policymakers a shared evidence base on not just whether early careers programmes work, but what they're actually worth to the people going through them.”
The index and awards come as a UK Government interim report published in May warned of a “generational fault line” in how young people move from education into work, with the UK rate of those not in education, employment or training (NEET) passing one million for the first time in more than a decade.
Jack said:
“The Milburn interim report has diagnosed the crisis at UK level. Talent Yfory shows what it looks like in Wales and what the evidence says works here. Structured pathways like apprenticeships, graduate programmes, and quality work experience are part of the answer. If we know what ‘good' looks like, we can invest in what works and inspire more employers to do the same.
“And this isn't just about young people. If people are happy in their roles, they're more productive and they stay. There's a direct link between social return on investment and business return on investment. Wales can do better, and Talent Yfory is the benchmark to aspire to.”
Hatch is now building a founding partner group for Talent Yfory, with some of Wales' leading early careers employers already on board.
“The response to the 2026 index has been overwhelming,” said Jack. “I'm now building on that momentum with a founding partner group, and an awards programme feels like the natural next step for the index, giving Wales the chance to celebrate what good early careers practice actually looks like, together, in one room.”
Further details on the 2027 index, founding partnership and awards ceremony will follow in the coming months.
