Youth Training Scheme

The Youth Training Scheme (YTS) was the former name in the United Kingdom of an on-the-job training course for school leavers aged 16 and 17, managed by the Manpower Services Commission. The scheme was first outlined in the 1980 whitepaper A New Training Initiative: A Programme for Action, and was brought into operation in 1983, replacing the Youth Opportunities Programme, by the government of Margaret Thatcher. Initially lasting one year, the scheme was amended in 1986 to be extendable to a second year. The 1981 England riots encouraged this by bringing into sharp focus the results of leaving large numbers of unskilled unemployed to find their own solutions.