Genie Connect
Turning Insight Into Action
Genie Connect is a programme led by Amazing Apprenticeships and funded by Youth Futures Foundation, exploring how large employers can help increase the availability of Level 2 and Level 3 apprenticeships for young people.
Following a successful first phase, we’re now moving into Phase 2 focuses on turning insight into action and supporting employers to drive change during 2026/27.
How you can get involved
During 2026/27, Genie Connect will create new opportunities for employers to learn from one another, explore different approaches and work together to tackle the challenges facing Level 2 and Level 3 apprenticeships through three connected strands:
- Best-practice workshops
- Workplace visits
- Accelerator Action Groups
Best-practice workshops
Our popular online workshop series is returning, with four sessions running from November 2026 to March 2027.
Each session will bring together employer experience, policy insight and practical examples, with opportunities to share ideas and explore what could work in your organisation.
Workshop 1 will examine the latest policy developments and how apprenticeship reforms align with Youth Guarantee ambitions.
Workshop 2 will explore how employers can design and deliver apprenticeship pathways that better support underrepresented young people, including those who are care-experienced, with learning differences or disabilities, criminal justice-experienced and those facing socio-economic disadvantage.
Workshop 3 will focus on developing level 2 pathways. The introduction of Foundation Apprenticeships and the return of the Business Admin. Level 2 has created an opportunity for employers to reconsider the ways that early career entry points are designed for young people.
Workshop 4 brings together employers to share learning, test ideas and explore innovative approaches emerging across the apprenticeship landscape.
Workplace Visits
New for Phase 2, employers will have the opportunity to visit other organisations, explore their approaches and hear directly from the people delivering.
Visits will begin in November with further opportunities planned throughout the year.
These will be more intensive opportunities than our online workshops, giving employers time to explore an approach in greater depth, ask questions and consider how it could translate to their own organisation.
Accelerator Action Groups
The Accelerator Action Groups will bring together small groups of employers who want to work collaboratively on a specific challenge over the next 12 months.
Groups will explore practical approaches that can be tested and implemented, with learning shared more widely through the Genie Connect programme.
The groups are designed for employers who have a specific challenge or opportunity they want to explore and the scope to test new approaches over the coming year.
If you are interested in being involved in the visits or Accelerator Action Groups, please complete our short form below to tell us which opportunities you’d like to get involved in and the challenges that are a priority for your organisation this year. We’ll keep you updated as the programme develops and share details of how you can take part.
Building on what we’ve learnt
During Phase 1, we brought together 500+ levy-paying employers, alongside young people and wider sector stakeholders, to understand the barriers to increasing Level 2 and Level 3 apprenticeship opportunities.
We explored employer experiences, shared examples of what is working and brought employer insight directly into policy discussions.
Employers told us they value practical examples, peer learning and opportunities to explore what works in practice, and that’s exactly what we’re building into Phase 2.
Impact of phase 1
Phase 1 featured contributions from organisations including Amazon, Severn Trent, Morgan Sindall Property Services, TUI, Wickes, Specsavers, FCDO Services and others, sharing practical approaches to recruitment, apprenticeship academies, talent development, supply-chain collaboration and building the business case for apprenticeships.
