Since we launched our refreshed skills development program, The KEY+ Challenge, and new digital platform, The KIT, we have been busy transferring partners onto, and training facilitators how to use, our new platform in the first phase of our KEY+ implementation plan. We are delighted to announce we are now ready for the next phase, where we start preparing for the end of our old system, and all Key projects being run via KEY+.

Over the next few months, we will be moving all of our existing delivery partners across to our new platform, ensuring that all projects from 2023 onwards will be running as KEY+ projects via The KIT. To do this, we have set a deadline of 2 December for any new projects to be registered on the Hub, with the expectation that all old system groups will be complete by the end of 2022. If you are yet to be moved across to the new system, we will be contacting you soon to let you know exactly what’s involved and what this will mean for your organisation.

We will require all facilitators to undergo some additional training with us and have announced lots of new training sessions so everyone can get up to speed on the new system and the improvements we have made for KEY+. Details for sessions this side of Christmas can be found on the website via our new training page here. Existing facilitators can attend one of our 2 hour Condensed sessions, while Full training, designed for new facilitators (but open to all!) is a half-day session. We have a mixture of online and in-person sessions to cater for everyone and would love to see you at a session soon!

We are really excited about the possibilities for young people that KEY+ will bring and we have already seen some fantastic projects take place. With the possibility of young people having their own account areas and being able to use our new electronic skills wheel, KEY+ is a further commitment to put young people at the heart of everything we do.

KEY+ has also brought with it some fantastic new resources which will allow young people to get the most from their projects, while The KIT will constantly be evolving to create the best possible experience for facilitators, panel members and, most importantly, young people. We have already added a brand-new Panel Member Search feature to the KIT since the launch and more are already in development!

For those of you who have not moved across yet, we'll be contacting you soon, but if you wish to get moved across straightaway, please email membership@thekeyuk.org and we can arrange that for you. If you have any questions about KEY+, do get in touch – we are always happy to catch up over the phone, Zoom or a cuppa!