Latest news with #YouthGuarantee
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The 'important and urgent' issue of getting our young people into work
ONE of the challenges we face as a region is the growing number of young people not in work, education or training (so called NEETs) in the north east and Cumbria. It's an important and urgent issue, and one I discussed on a recent visit to Carlisle Jobcentre Plus. Unlocking the talent of our young people is key to our country's future. As part of its Get Britain Working plan, the biggest reform to employment support in a generation, the Government has raised the National Living Wage, improved working conditions through landmark employment legislation and begun to create jobs in high potential areas, such as clean energy industries, advanced manufacturing and defence. A central element of this plan is the new 'Youth Guarantee', which will support thousands of 18 to 21-year-olds into education, employment or training. Teesside, over in the north east, is one of eight trailblazer areas for the Youth Guarantee Scheme. This means it is a pilot for new approaches which, if successful, will be rolled out across the country. But that doesn't mean there's a lack of support for young people here in Carlisle and north Cumbria. Far from it. For example, the government is providing support to employers to take on young apprentices, including funding training costs for small businesses for apprentices aged 16-18, and removing National Insurance contributions for employers of apprentices under 25. A reformed Skills Levy will help ensure that a more skilled and adaptable workforce goes hand-in-hand with greater opportunity. On my recent visit to Carlisle Jobcentre Plus I saw for myself the tailored support available to 16–24 year-olds in their Youth Hub. Through partnerships with organisations like the Cumbria Youth Alliance, it provides access to careers advice, employability coaching, and connections to local services. Help is on hand for essential skills such as CV writing, interview preparation and job searches, as well as access to training opportunities. But if these efforts are going to be successful, we need young people to meet us halfway. If someone on benefits refuses to take up the support offered by a work coach without good reason, there will be benefits sanctions. This isn't about creating a blame culture; it's about fairness. Those who can work should work, so we are able to support those who genuinely can't. By working together, the government, employers, and young people can build an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive, whether they live in the north east, Cumbria, or beyond.
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
'We're not snowflakes, looking for a job is tough'
"It's a bit demoralising," says 22-year-old Katie Abbas about the hundreds of jobs she's applied for over the past year, with no has been among thousands of young people at a jobs fair in Liverpool's Anfield Stadium, at which the Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall launched the government's Youth Guarantee Trailblazers programme last scheme aims to offer tailored support for 18 to 21 year olds as they try to find comes as new figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed 987,000 people aged between 16 and 24 are not in education, employment or training across the UK. Katie, who is from Liverpool, said looking for a job had been tough since graduating from university last hopes to become an interior designer or use her languages degree in some way."It is stressful - constantly worrying about money. Even just wondering if I can afford this weekly shop?"And then looking for a career on top of that, is even more demoralising because I am not getting any income so I am struggling to kick-start my career." Katie faces the usual conundrum for people starting on the work ladder, where she says employers are "looking for experience but I can't get the experience when I need experience to get the experience."It's frustrating."She says she would welcome tailored support but it was ultimately down to employers to "take a chance" on young is among eight English regions that have been allocated a total of £45m by the government to help people into work as part of the youth guarantee other areas include the East and West Midlands, Tees Valley, West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and two in scheme will focus on vulnerable young people who face the most barriers, including care leavers - nearly 40% of whom are not in employment, education or training, according to the is expected to include training opportunities, free travel passes, mental health support and money advice. Jenny Smith, 24, from St Helens, became a mum 18 months ago and has already had a confidence boost after getting support from an employment officer following help from the Liverpool City now works in the care sector after receiving assistance with interview and CV says the biggest barrier for her had been finding a job that she could fit around child care and she recommends young people be upfront when discussing flexible working with potential employers."If you ask them, they will work around you. It is daunting but if you don't ask, you don't get." Aleesha Carroll, 19, from Kirkby, said a skills bootcamp had helped her land a dream job in early years child said not knowing what jobs were out there was a barrier for her."I did an early years boot camp after coming to a jobs fair two years ago, now I am working in a nursery and I love it, I come to work with a smile on my face every day."In the Liverpool City Region, there is a one-stop shop for careers advice on the BeMore app alongside physical hubs across the area's six Steve Rotheram said some of the stories he had heard from young people had been "heart-breaking"."What we try to do is give them the wraparound support – it could be debt advice it could be bereavement support, it could be help with all sorts of relationship issues."It's not about a lack of talent, it's about a lack of opportunity". 'Not snowflakes' James Barber, 23, runs a tech start-up called Harker in said today's young people face specific challenges because of their experiences with the teenagers may have stopped attending school during that time, leaving them outside education and less likely to access training and believes "lots of employers might not recognise that".James rejects any suggestion that today's twenty-somethings are "snowflakes" who just need to pull their socks up and work in the same way previous generations did."If you want to get the best out of people you have to provide the environment which gets the most out of them," he said."These days people can work from anywhere – even their phone. Embrace it."Employers should empower employees to work the best they can." The work and pensions secretary said at Anfield: "Young people are our future – and yet for too long they have been denied access to the opportunities and support they need."At Liverpool FC, the home of champions, we are championing young people to get the skills, education and jobs they require to achieve their ambitions."She said the government was investing the £45m, "including almost £5m here in Liverpool, to deliver our Youth Guarantee, so every young person across England gets the chance to earn or learn, as we boost living standards and get Britain working under the Plan for Change". Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Covid generation' left behind by Labour's bid to beat worklessness
Youngsters whose education was blighted by Covid are now too old to benefit from the latest scheme for jobseekers, the Government has been warned. Those who studied for their A-levels or college qualifications during the first lockdown are now typically 22 or older – but the new jobs guarantee scheme applies only to those aged up to 21. Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, a think tank, warned that people who lost out on getting a job because of lockdown are now at risk of missing out again. He said: 'The Youth Guarantee, which is a good idea, is focused on 18 to 21-year-olds, making sure they get help to find a job or apprenticeship, and actually it really needs to be 16 to 24-year-olds. Your problems don't stop when you turn 22.' Half of all 22 to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment, or training – officially known as Neets – have never had a job. At that point 'it becomes more and more difficult', said Mr Evans. 'Employers look at your CV and see you have no work experience, and you end up at the back of the queue. We need urgent action for that group, not just the 18 to 21-year olds.' Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, launched the £45m jobseekers scheme at an event in Liverpool, promising to help match young people with jobs or training programmes. It comes as new figures show there are 923,000 people aged 16 to 24 who are Neets. While down from the peak over winter, it is still up from 750,000 before the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics. Almost 500,000 of them are aged between 21 and 24. Mr Evans said: 'You have got a bit of the pandemic generation coming through here, who had disrupted education and then disrupted transitions into work, and you've got the longer-term decline of people working alongside education as well, the classic Saturday jobs. 'This is particularly worrying.' In a shift from historical trends, young men are now roughly as likely as young women to be classed as economically inactive Neets – those who are neither in work nor looking for work, nor in education. In part that is because girls and women tend to leave school, college and university with better grades, while women are less likely now than in the past to care for family members or to look after the home, said Mr Evans. But there has also been a sharp rise in male inactivity. As well as the pandemic effect, there has 'been a rise in the number of young men inactive due to long-term sickness, particularly citing mental health conditions', Mr Evans said. Other government policies are not helping, with the rise in the minimum wage and the increase in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) proving particularly painful for younger staff. The threshold at which employer NICs start to be paid was cut last month from a salary of £9,100 to just £5,000, meaning more low-paid and part-time workers' jobs have been dragged into the tax net. This harms employment prospects in industries including retail and hospitality, which often give youngsters their first positions. Sarah Yong, at the Youth Futures Foundation, said more youngsters are becoming stuck in unemployment. She said: 'Around one in four unemployed young people who are Neets have been looking for work for over a year, highlighting the persistent nature of this issue. 'Among this group, one in five lack any formal qualifications – double the rate seen across the wider youth population. 'Being out of work and education can have a scarring effect on young people even decades later, impacting their wellbeing, future prospects and much more. 'Aside from the moral imperative to act, there is a clear economic case: if we could put in sustained effort as the Netherlands have done and match their Neet rate, which is the lowest in the OECD, this would be worth £69bn to our economy and would mean approximately 500,000 more young people earning or learning.' Eight regions in the UK will receive £5m each for the 'trailblazer' jobs and training schemes, which will particularly focus on vulnerable youngsters. This includes those leaving care, of whom 40pc are not in education, employment or training. Ms Kendall said: 'Every young person should have the chance to thrive. Today's data shows progress, with 64,000 more young people earning or learning. However, there are still nearly 1m young people locked out of the system and being written off. 'I am determined to change that, which is why we are breaking down barriers to opportunity through our Plan for Change by investing £45m in our Youth Guarantee to give every young person the chance to get on in life.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Leader Live
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Leader Live
Kendall vows to give young people ‘chances and choices' for a better life
Liz Kendall visited Liverpool's Anfield Stadium on Thursday to announce the programme to support thousands of 18-21-year-olds into education, work and training. Ms Kendall said the scheme would 'make sure every young person is earning or learning and gets the chances and choices they deserve to build a better life'. The Leicester West MP said it was 'moving' to meet young care leavers at the football stadium, where a careers fair was taking place. She said she met one woman who was helped by charity Thrive after her mother died and now had an apprenticeship in construction. 'If you've just lost your parents, trying to cope with that, let alone build a life, can feel overwhelming and that is the real difference, that this funding will help to give more young women like that the chances and choices they deserve for a better future,' she said. The visit came the day after Ms Kendall gave a speech defending plans to cut £5 billion in welfare reforms. Speaking on Thursday, she told the PA news agency: 'For people who can work, they need opportunities to do so and, for too long, people have been written off, condemned to a life on benefits, given no help and support and that's not good enough. 'We are spending too much money on the costs of failure.' She said the Government was funding new skills and training. She did not answer whether scrapping the two-child benefit cap would be looked at but said the Government would be publishing a 'bold and ambitious' child poverty strategy. She added: 'There is a lot, lot more to do, but we are absolutely determined to drive down poverty and drive up opportunity to give people the chance of a better future.' The proposed welfare cuts have been criticised by charities and 100 Labour MPs are reported to have signed a letter urging ministers to scale back the plans. Ms Kendall said: 'I think the British people want people who can work to work and I think they want people who can never work to be supported. That's what we're doing.' The investment announced in Liverpool is part of the Government's youth guarantee and will see the region, along with areas in the West of England, Tees Valley, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, West Midlands, East Midlands and two parts of London, receive £5 million investment to become a 'trailblazer' and match young people to job or training opportunities. Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram, who was at the event in Anfield, said: 'When I travel across our region, I feel fortunate to meet some of the best and brightest young people in the country. 'But, for too long, too many of them have been held back from getting on in life, not because of a lack of talent, but by a lack of opportunity – and I have made it my mission to put that right.' Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: 'The Youth Guarantee is a genuine game-changer for young people in England. 'I'm delighted Liverpool is leading the way as one of our trailblazers – ensuring every young person has support to develop essential skills for work and life at the critical early stage of their careers. 'Every young person deserves the best life chances — and we won't stop until everyone has a level playing field to succeed.'
Rhyl Journal
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Rhyl Journal
Kendall vows to give young people ‘chances and choices' for a better life
Liz Kendall visited Liverpool's Anfield Stadium on Thursday to announce the programme to support thousands of 18-21-year-olds into education, work and training. Ms Kendall said the scheme would 'make sure every young person is earning or learning and gets the chances and choices they deserve to build a better life'. The Leicester West MP said it was 'moving' to meet young care leavers at the football stadium, where a careers fair was taking place. She said she met one woman who was helped by charity Thrive after her mother died and now had an apprenticeship in construction. 'If you've just lost your parents, trying to cope with that, let alone build a life, can feel overwhelming and that is the real difference, that this funding will help to give more young women like that the chances and choices they deserve for a better future,' she said. The visit came the day after Ms Kendall gave a speech defending plans to cut £5 billion in welfare reforms. Speaking on Thursday, she told the PA news agency: 'For people who can work, they need opportunities to do so and, for too long, people have been written off, condemned to a life on benefits, given no help and support and that's not good enough. 'We are spending too much money on the costs of failure.' She said the Government was funding new skills and training. She did not answer whether scrapping the two-child benefit cap would be looked at but said the Government would be publishing a 'bold and ambitious' child poverty strategy. She added: 'There is a lot, lot more to do, but we are absolutely determined to drive down poverty and drive up opportunity to give people the chance of a better future.' The proposed welfare cuts have been criticised by charities and 100 Labour MPs are reported to have signed a letter urging ministers to scale back the plans. Ms Kendall said: 'I think the British people want people who can work to work and I think they want people who can never work to be supported. That's what we're doing.' The investment announced in Liverpool is part of the Government's youth guarantee and will see the region, along with areas in the West of England, Tees Valley, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, West Midlands, East Midlands and two parts of London, receive £5 million investment to become a 'trailblazer' and match young people to job or training opportunities. Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram, who was at the event in Anfield, said: 'When I travel across our region, I feel fortunate to meet some of the best and brightest young people in the country. 'But, for too long, too many of them have been held back from getting on in life, not because of a lack of talent, but by a lack of opportunity – and I have made it my mission to put that right.' Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: 'The Youth Guarantee is a genuine game-changer for young people in England. 'I'm delighted Liverpool is leading the way as one of our trailblazers – ensuring every young person has support to develop essential skills for work and life at the critical early stage of their careers. 'Every young person deserves the best life chances — and we won't stop until everyone has a level playing field to succeed.'
