At The Key, everything we do is about empowering young people to unlock unlimited futures for themselves.

We know that developing essential skills plays a vital role in helping young people discover their strengths, build confidence, and take positive steps towards the future they want. Through every KEY+ experience, our ambition is not only to provide meaningful opportunities, but also to help young people recognise the skills they are developing along the way and understand how those skills can support them throughout their lives.

Over the past few years, we have been exploring how we can strengthen this aspect of KEY+ even further. We wanted to ensure that young people could more clearly identify their growth, celebrate their achievements, and articulate the skills they have gained through taking part.

That journey has led us to adopt the Skills Builder Universal Framework.

Our 12 Key Skills have been an important part of The Key's approach since the very beginning, so this is a change we have considered carefully. The move reflects years of research, testing, and collaboration with partners, stakeholders, and, most importantly, young people themselves. Their experiences and feedback have helped shape our approach and reinforce the importance of giving young people a clear and recognised way to understand and communicate their skills.

The journey began through our The Key to Social Action programme, where young people designed and delivered social action projects through NCS funding. Through this programme, we partnered with Skills Builder to explore how their skills framework steps could support young people to better recognise and develop their skills, leading to a pilot with eight KEY+ partners using an adapted version of the framework.

Building on the success of this pilot, we have continued to work closely with Skills Builder to tailor the framework to the KEY+ Challenge and the skills that young people tell us they develop through their participation. By adopting a nationally recognised skills framework, we can help young people better identify, develop, and articulate their essential skills, enabling them to recognise their growth, celebrate their achievements, and feel ready to embrace future opportunities.

We are delighted to officially launch the Skills Builder Universal Framework within The Key this October and look forward to seeing the positive impact it will have on young people across our network.