NLTG hosts meeting of charities to help Hyndburn's young and unemployed into work

North Lancs Training Group (NLTG), the education provider based in Accrington, welcomed a number of key charity stakeholders to its Old Bakery Centre to begin discussions on how they can work together to support Hyndburn’s unemployed and young people.

The meeting, which took place on Monday 6th September, included a presentation from NLTG staff about their courses and Apprenticeships for both 16-18 year olds and unemployed adults, a round table discussion between the charities on how they can get more people into education, training and work, as well as a tour of the facilities.

Miles Parkinson, councilor and leader of Hyndburn Borough Council, said: “It’s all about bringing organisations together, whether charitable or business, to actually promote engagement with those in education to move forward into a career.

“In Hyndburn, we are missing a great opportunity in making sure those individuals at a young age get into a career and opportunity to promote themselves in later life.”

Amongst those in attendance were the Accrington Stanley Community Trust, Community Solutions, Hyndburn & Ribble Valley CVS, the police and Maundy Relief, a registered charity set up to respond immediately to the needs of the people in the borough.

Beccy Murrell, operations manager at Maundy Relief, said: “I’m here to see how we can support getting young people back into work. At Maundy Relief we’ve got a number of volunteering opportunities which we may be able to put into the mix.”

She added: “We were impressed by the facilities and it was a well organised and interesting event. We will be working more closely with NLTG in the future.”

Paul Mallen, employability officer at Accrington Stanley Community Trust, added: “We feel it is important to get involved in events like this, to make sure we are collaborating with other companies and organisations to help young people in our area.”

NLTG, who have between 1,300 and 1,500 Apprenticeships and learners in 700+ companies across the North West, offer a diverse range of courses and Apprenticeships including Employability Skills Courses which give people the opportunity to apply and search for jobs through CV and cover letter writing, as well as interview skills training.

Following a tour of NLTG’s Old Bakery site, where some of those courses are run, a round table discussion provided the charities with an opportunity to discuss their thoughts on the key issues facing Hyndburn and how they can work as a collective to improve signposting throughout the borough to get more people into education, training and work.

As well as learning about the training provisions available for 16-18 year olds, the charities and Hyndburn Borough Council heard from NLTG about the 300+ Apprenticeship opportunities which they have available throughout the North West in industries such as Catering and Hospitality, Customer Service, Furniture Occupations, IT and Digital Marketing.

Gareth Lindsay, managing director of North Lancs Training Group, said: “It’s very much about forming partnerships and relationships. The key question is about how we help those people who need those opportunities, to access them, to find out about them and to work together to make them a reality.”

For more information about NLTG and the courses and Apprenticeships they offer, please visit www.nltg.co.uk