IN4 Group’s AI Native Youth programme has been backed by the UK Government and will launch a North West pilot this summer to help prevent young people from becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training), by creating a clear pathway at 16 with guaranteed employment as digital apprentices. There is a commitment to scale the programme to 1000 young people in the coming year. Announced during London Tech Week by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the pilot led by technology training provider IN4 Group will begin with 60 young people aged 16 in the North West at risk of becoming NEET, with a specific focus on those from care-leaver backgrounds, who face a greater risk.
This builds on IN4’s established MEGA Hubs, which operate in over 250 schools, delivering STEM education and scholarships to over 14,000 students across the North West. This existing infrastructure means IN4 and its regional partners already know the schools and their students, understand the local contexts and can support talent early. The announcement comes at a time when more than one million young people aged 16–24 are currently not in education, employment or training across the UK. In the North West alone, almost 124,000 young people are classified as NEET, representing just over 14% of 16–24-year-olds in the region. The pilot will cover five local areas in Lancashire and Greater Manchester in the North West, with support from local employers including JD Sports, BAE Systems, PA Consulting, and Agilisys, as well as Wigan, Blackpool, Oldham, Blackburn with Darwen and Lancashire councils. A minimum of 10 young people aged 16 from each area will then start an £18,000 AI apprenticeship in September.
IN4 already works with secondary schools from Year 7 to Year 13 through its MEGA Hubs’ operation and the delivery of programmes such as CyberFirst, TechFirst and the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc), where it has a strong network of local authorities, employer partners and schools engaged in digital skills and inclusion. Designed by Mo Isap OBE, the founder and CEO of IN4 Group, AI Native Youth tackles the uncertainties that push young people out of education, employment or training after school and college. Starting in Key Stage 4, it runs as a two‑year ‘AI super curriculum’ from Year 10 to Year 11, delivered alongside the existing timetable through IN4’s MEGA Hubs.
Young people develop the AI and technology skills and confidence they need while they are still in school, then move at 16 into Level 3 digital apprenticeships through a structured ‘recruit, train, deploy’ pathway. For employers and local authorities, the model removes much of the usual friction. Organisations benefit from motivated, AI‑literate talent in their teams, without immediate headcount pressure or lengthy HR and procurement processes. After the first year, they have the option to offer full‑time roles. With hubs across Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Blackpool, the North West will act as the lead region for AI Native Youth, showing how schools, local authorities and employers can work together to tackle the NEET challenge at scale and at pace.
Mo Isap OBE, CEO of IN4 Group, said: “You can’t fix a million young people at risk of becoming NEET by tinkering around the edges. We have to disrupt the system. AI Native Youth gives young people a clear, paid pathway from school into high‑value digital apprenticeships, starting in Year 10 and carrying them through to their first proper role. We are turning a group that is often seen as a problem into a generation we put on a pedestal. We’ve spent years building the MEGA Hubs, the school relationships, the local authorities and employer partnerships across the North West. Now, with backing from DSIT and support from our regional partners, we can prove the model this summer and then scale it nationally so that 1,000 young people don’t just avoid becoming NEET, they become the AI‑native talent our economy needs.”
AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said: “We are ensuring young people get the support and backing they need to realise their full potential and build rewarding careers in technology and AI. By partnering with IN4 Group to deliver this first-of-its-kind AI apprenticeship programme in the North West, we are opening up, high-quality AI job opportunities for young people who are most at risk of leaving education and facing unemployment. We’ll work together to help more young people take their first steps into lasting careers in technology, right from within their own communities.”
