Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, has announced the opening of a new support service offering a wide range of in-person services to help young people into education, training and employment across the Liverpool City Region.
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As well as a comprehensive on-line service offering events, careers information, advice and guidance, young people will also be able to get in-person support at a network of eight initial Youth Hubs across the city region.
Youth Hubs are a national Department for Work & Pensions initiative aimed at helping young people access support to develop their skills, understand their career options and get the employment and training advice they need.
Based in existing organisations with a strong track record of supporting young people, Youth Hubs are also home to expert Job Centre Work Coaches who are there to help you find, stay in, and progress in a job.
Speaking about the service, Steve Rotheram said: “Young people’s prospects have been damaged by the impact of the pandemic, with many young people falling behind, seeing jobs and apprenticeships taken away and opportunities lost.
“These Youth Hubs will offer invaluable information, advice and guidance, to help them access job opportunities, training and education, to help them achieve their full potential.
“This network of resources has been made possible because of the strength of our collective partnership in the city region, with dozens of fantastic organisations stepping up to support young people throughout this turbulent period. I see this as a major step towards my Young Person’s Guarantee – the commitment of a job, training or an apprenticeship opportunity for every young person out of work for more than six months.
“This guarantee will start with a focus on all school leavers, with the ambition of rolling this out to everyone under 25. We need to give a promise of hope for all young people in our region. It will be a step-change in how we support them and raise their aspirations.”
The accompanying Youth Hub website is an extension of the Combined Authority’s pioneering Be More service and is the first in the country to include details of hundreds of jobs available through the Government’s Kickstart scheme for those unemployed 16-24 year-olds who are eligible.
Minister for Employment, Mims Davies MP said: “By rolling out our DWP Youth Hubs across local communities like these in Liverpool City Region, means young people will, importantly, be able to access vital, suitable support from our Work Coaches in a range of settings helping to match them with local opportunities; whether it’s more training to boost confidence or focussed help to assist them to move into employment.
“This is a challenging time, and we are serious about investing in our young people as we get Britain back working again and moving further into recovery. That’s why, as part of our enhanced Youth Offer, we are also injecting £2 billion into the DWP Kickstart scheme, creating new, subsidised, high-quality roles for under 25s as we continue our work to protect, support and create jobs.”
Youth Hubs are available to any young person within the city region who needs support. Individual Youth Hub services can be found at the Local Youth Hubs Page. Each hub is tailored to young people, so whether you’re interested in starting your own business, require specialist support or just need someone to talk to – everything is covered.
The first eight face-to-face Youth Hubs are open at:
- Merseyside Community Training [Birkenhead, Environmental Innovation Centre]
- Big Onion [Bootle, Strand Shopping Centre]
- Merseyside Youth Association [Liverpool, Hanover Street]
- Thrive [Liverpool, Preston Street]
- Ellergreen Community Centre [Liverpool, Ellergreen Road]
- Joseph Lappin Centre [Liverpool, Mill Lane]
- Genesis Kickstart2Employment [St Helens, Beacon Building]
- Employability Solutions @ The Reach [The Reach, Parklands, Speke]
More Youth Hubs will open over the coming months.
Find out more at the Youth Hubs website.
