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Hatch Consultancy

The South West Early Careers Index - NOW LIVE

Early Careers and Social Value Consultancy for Organisations in the South West

​Hatch helps South West employers, educators, and public bodies attract early careers talent, deliver programmes that work, and prove their social value using a candidate-driven approach informed by SROI and impact measurement methodology. Hatch reviews and designs offers that genuinely deliver for candidates, and the rest takes care of itself: better attraction, retention, productivity, social value, and a stronger local economy. The focus is on three interconnected areas: Attract, Deliver, and Prove. Each are designed to move from intention to measurable outcome.

Backed by Data - South West Early Careers Index


Earlier this year, we launched Talent Yfory (Tomorrow's Talent), Wales' Early Careers Index to analyse the impact, access, and equity of different types of 'first jobs'. We've now expanded the research across the border to Wales’ friendly neighbour, the South West of England. Drawing on insights from 400 respondents, including apprentices, graduates and students, the South West Early Careers Index captures both measurable outcomes and lived experiences, giving employers a direct benchmark of what good early careers practice actually looks like. Register your details below and be the first receive the Index when it launches 14 October 2026. 

Key Findings Include:


  • £11,000: the annual social value per apprentice in the South West. The most consistent, supportive, and equitable pathway in the Index.
  • £9,000: annual social value per graduate role participant. A social mobility lever in the South West's competitive graduate market.
  • £5,000: annual social value per graduate programme participant. The most unequally accessed and least equitable pathway.
  • Gender and socioeconomic background shape outcomes significantly. Particularly around stress, anxiety, autonomy, and access to opportunity

  • Work experience matters. Yet access is unequal, especially when it’s a better and longer experience.

  • Structured pathways deliver business ROI (when done well and equally accessible). Retention is strongest in apprenticeships and graduate programmes. 

  • Students are concerned about AI, but the fear isn’t that it will take their jobs. It’s about being filtered out before a human ever sees their application.

    • Please note the above figures represent wellbeing social value only (independent of wider economic or fiscal impacts), and vary across other sectors and apprenticeship types.

    "Your first job is one of life's defining milestones, shaping not just careers, but confidence, identity, and direction. Having supported hundreds of young people into roles across my career, I created the South West Early Careers Index to explore the real impact of these transitions. Drawing on insights from over 400 participants, the index examines the accessibility, experience, and long-term value of early careers pathways in the region, moving beyond traditional metrics to assess confidence, purpose, belonging, and wellbeing."


    Jack Taylor ~ Director, Hatch ~ Index Research Lead

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    South West Early Careers Index FAQs

    The South West Early Careers Index is the first regional social value / early careers index of its kind in the South West of England. It was built to measure what early careers opportunities — apprenticeships, graduate programmes, and entry-level roles — actually do to a young person's confidence, wellbeing, belonging, and long-term outlook, not just their salary or employment status.


    The 2026 Index found £11,000 in annual social value per apprentice in the South West. This figure reflects wellbeing social value only, independent of wider economic or fiscal impacts, and may vary by sector and apprenticeship type.

    Graduate programme participants generate £5,000 in annual social value and graduate jobs £9,000. The index found an access gap with graduate programmes being the most unequally accessed pathway vs graduate jobs which act as a social mobility lever in the regions competitive graduate market. 

    Yes. The Index gives you a South West-wide baseline for apprentice, graduate, and entry-level social value — so you can see how your own programme's wellbeing, retention, and progression outcomes compare. If you want a benchmark specific to your organisation or sector, that's something Hatch can scope through its Prove pillar, using the same SROI methodology behind the Index.

    Because most organisations still report early careers success on activity, not outcome — headcount hired, budget spent, hours delivered. Social value measurement shows what actually changed for the young person: their confidence, wellbeing, and long-term trajectory. This candidate-driven approach allows organisations to review and design offers that genuinely deliver for candidates, and the rest takes care of itself: better attraction, retention, productivity, social value, and a stronger local economy. Social value is also increasingly what funders, regulators, and boards want evidenced, and it's the difference between a programme you can describe and one you can prove.