On 28 February Islington Council passed the report: A Fair Chance for Young People: Islington Strategy for Tckling Youth Unemployment. View it here.
The cover report includes:
At the heart of the council’s commitment to making Islington a fairer place is making sure that young people have the best start in life. Our draft Youth Pledge therefore gives young people real decision-making powers, protects funding for things like core youth services, and invests new money in things that will help them become happy and successful adults.
1.2 Youth unemployment is recognised as one of the greatest challenges facing the country. The economic downturn is making it more difficult for young people to get jobs, with the risk that many will experience long term unemployment. There is also a persistent structural problem so that even when the economy was growing there was a core of young people, generally from less well off and less well educated families, who were not in education, employment or training (NEET). The scrapping of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) and increase in tuition fees exacerbate the problem for this group of young people.
1.3 The council is determined to support young people through what is an increasingly complex and uncertain transition to adulthood.
1.4 This report recommends a strategy for tackling youth unemployment in Islington whereby we will:
Get the basics right for young people under 16 years old and signposting to further study or the world of work.
Build on the support for 16 -19 year olds by working with partners to improve the vocational and academic educational offer in the borough, and provide practical and financial assistance to those that need it most.
Support the transition of 19 to 25 year olds into employment by increasing the number and range of apprenticeships and providing better pathways to entry level jobs.
Ensure that no young person who has specific or multiple barriers to employment is left behind.
Provide leadership on making the vision of tackling youth unemployment a reality by working with the public, private and voluntary sector to improve the co-ordination of services and resources and find innovative ways to meet the needs of young people.
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