Careers Hub launched to prepare young people for work

Employers, education providers and career professionals have joined together to form a Careers Hub designed to improve the prospects of young people.

The hub will cater for Burnley, Pendle and Blackpool. It has been developed by The Careers & Enterprise Company and will be overseen by the Lancashire LEP’s Skills & Employment Hub.

Support and funding will be made available to build networks, train careers leaders and facilitate encounters between employers and schools.

One of the reasons the LEP has successfully secured the Careers Hub is due to its outstanding track record in working with employers to help deliver careers support and advice.

For example, its Enterprise Adviser Network, which matches local schools with volunteers from local companies to help boost employment prospects for young people, now has over 134 volunteer strategic leaders from business working directly with 123 Lancashire schools and colleges.

The launch of the Careers Hub was officially announced at aerospace specialists Safran Nacelles in Burnley during a visit by pupils from Shuttleworth College in Padiham.

With around 850 staff, Safran Nacelles is Burnley’s largest private sector employer, and was one of the first advanced manufacturing companies to sign-up to the Lancashire Enterprise Adviser Network.

Dr Michele Lawty-Jones, director of the Lancashire Skills & Employment Hub, said: “It’s fitting that the news about us being awarded Careers Hub status has come on the day we have a group of Year 10 pupils from Padiham finding out about careers in engineering and aerospace at a world-class business like Safran Nacelles.

“This is exactly the type of high-skilled employer encounter which the government is encouraging all regions to pursue, and it’s an approach which underpins many of the strategic objectives found within the Careers Hub programme." Claudia Harris, chief executive of The Careers & Enterprise Company, said: "We're excited by the potential impact of the Hubs. If employers, schools and colleges can better prepare young people for the world of work, we're not just benefiting the future economy, but improving prospects for thousands of young people.”