Liverpool City Region is set to receive almost £6 million of government cash to invest over the next three years to help young people into lasting employment.
It will be used for a new scheme targeted at helping the most disadvantaged young people into work through employment and personalised support, alongside a Local Enterprise Partnership-led employer engagement campaign and a personalised budget approach to empower 18-24 year olds to take greater responsibility and ownership on their route back to work.
The government has announced the scheme as part of an initiative for England’s major cities, following the successful delivery of Youth Contract by the City Council.
Minister for Cities Greg Clark said: “The days of Whitehall holding all the purse strings are coming to an end. Handing power over how cities spend money is important – this way, local leaders can do what’s best for the young people in their area. They know what will work and can make a real difference to their economic future by shaping the workforce of tomorrow.”
Councillor Nick Small, Liverpool’s Cabinet member for employment, enterprise and skills, said: “This is a welcome boost which will help with our work to get young people into decent training and employment and will help to reduce the number of individuals who are not in education, employment or training.”
“We have already created almost 1,000 apprenticeships in Liverpool over the last four years through a range of initiatives with our partners in the public and private sector, and are also making sure that the organisations we award major contracts to are committed to creating opportunities for young people. This additional funding will work alongside our existing Mayoral Apprenticeship scheme, which has already created an additional 100 opportunities over the past year for 16 and 17 year old NEET young people across the city.”